The ritual bath, or mikveh, was discovered two months ago by IAA officials during a routine archaeological inspection of the construction site in the capital’s southern neighborhood of Arnona. Jerusalem IAA manager Amit Reem says his workers discovered the underground cave leading to the mikveh at the very end of the final day of archaeological inspections of the work site before construction could get underway.
The entrance to a Second Temple-period mikveh recently discovered in Jerusalem and announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority on August 5, 2015 (Shai Halevy, IAA)
The well-preserved find was hailed by archaeologists.
“There is no doubt that this is a very significant discovery. Such a concentration of inscriptions and symbols from the Second Temple period at one archaeological site, and in such a state of preservation, is rare and unique and most intriguing,” excavation directors Royee Greenwald and Alexander Wiegmann says in a joint statement.
The Second Temple-period mikveh was exposed inside an underground cave, along with an anteroom, flanked by benches on either side. A nearby wine press was also excavated.
– Tamar Pileggi
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