Mikveh filled with ash from Roman destruction found in Jerusalem
SOURCE:Haaretz|BY:Ruth Schuster
Ritual bath found under the Western Wall Plaza by the Temple entrances contains the evidence of the violent end of the Second Temple period in Jerusalem
Ritual bath found under the Western Wall Plaza by the Temple entrances contains the evidence of the violent end of the Second Temple period in Jerusalem
The ash uncovered inside the Jewish ritual bath, both of which date back to the Second Temple period. Credit: Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority
The ash uncovered inside the Jewish ritual bath, both of which date back to the Second Temple period. Credit: Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority
10:55 AM • December 29 2025 IST
Right by two of the main entrances to the Second Temple that the Romans looted and destroyed in 70 C.E. was a large mikveh that likely served locals and the many pilgrims to Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on a rainy Monday morning.
The rectangular ritual bath unearthed in excavations beneath the Western Wall Plaza had been carved out of the Jerusalem bedrock. It is usual for these baths to be hewn out of rock.
Four steps lead down into the pool, which was 1.85 meters or six feet deep (it wouldn't have been filled to the top), 3.05 meters in length and 1.35 meters in width, report the archaeologists with the IAA and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. As was the custom, its walls were plastered.
The mikveh unearthed beneath the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem's Old City. Credit: Ari Levy/Israel Antiquities Authority
The mikveh unearthed beneath the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem's Old City. Credit: Ari Levy/Israel Antiquities Authority
How the bath would be filled isn't clear, excavation director Ari Levy says – presumably through a water channel, not merely trusting in seasonal rain or the ability to lug jars, but the excavation hasn't found it. Being in an aris environmental zone, ancient Jerusalem had elaborate systems, including a dam from about 2,800 years ago, to store and channel water.
The bath structure dates to the Second Temple period, the archaeologists could confirm: It lay sealed beneath the Second Temple period destruction layer. Also, it was full of debris, ash and broken household items from the terrible destruction of the city and Temple in the year 70, following the Jewish rebellion that began in 66 C.E. "Buildings and streets were collapsing and burning down in the fighting," Levy recreates the horrors of the time.
Among the shattered vessels bedded in ash in the bath were many made of stone, a hallmark of Jewish life in the Second Temple period. Stone kitchenware was believed to be impervious to contamination, whereas if a ceramic item was exposed to foulness, it had to be thrown out. The archaeologists also found also ceramic vessels as well as precious glass, as expected, says Levy. The archaeologists also found some coins.
The stoneware trend began in about 40 B.C.E. and vanished after the Bar Kochba revolt that ended in 135 C.E., with the Jewry largely scattered around the Diaspora, according to research by archaeologist Shimon Gibson. Jewish households before exile would reasonably possess both stone and pottery kitchenware, archaeologists have found over time; each had its advantages.
A fragment of a glass vessel discovered during the excavation. Credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority
A fragment of a glass vessel discovered during the excavation. Credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority
Pottery is lighter and easier to beautify, but breaks more easily when dropped; however, it is easier to make than carving a bowl out of rock. But then if your stone cup is exposed to a corpse or a pig, it doesn't need to be broken and thrown out.
Fragment of a stone vessel from the Second Temple period. Credit: Emil Aladjem / Israel Antiquities Authority
Fragment of a stone vessel from the Second Temple period. Credit: Emil Aladjem / Israel Antiquities Authority
All this goes to say that stoneware was popular in the Holy City of Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. "Jerusalem should be remembered as a Temple city," says Levy. "As such, many aspects of daily life were adapted to this reality, and this is reflected especially in the meticulous observance of the laws of ritual impurity and purity by the city's residents and leaders. Indeed, the saying 'purity spread in Israel' was coined in this context."
The excavation site beneath the Western Wall Plaza where a Jewish ritual bath and pottery shards were found. Credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority
The excavation site beneath the Western Wall Plaza where a Jewish ritual bath and pottery shards were found. Credit: Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority
When purification became an issue in the Near East is unclear, and how it was achieved before the invention of the ritual bath is unclear, though there are biblical references to cleansing, such as Numbers 19, which describes the preparation of a "water of cleansing" paste including the ash of an elaborately killed and cremated red cow. Actual baths with running water (or purification by immersion in a lake) seem to have emerged in the Hasmonean period.
Who did this particular bath serve? Likely the locals obedient to the "purity culture," as well as pilgrims to the city. It was near the main entrances to the Temple compound 2,000 years ago: the Great Bridge to the north and Robinson's Arch to the south, Levy tells Haaretz by telephone. As Zeev Safrai of Bar-Ilan University has written, every society has its norms, and in religious societies, norms are the law – for adherents, not "others" who were free to dine on swine on a ceramic plate and move on in life. It would have become a norm for the locals and pious to cleanse themselves by immersion before entering the sacred place that the Romans would tear down in the year 70, stealing its treasures and hauling them off to Rome to gloat.
