This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A monumental complex of ritual baths, most likely used by Jewish pilgrims visiting the Temple in Jerusalem, has been uncovered at the foot of the Temple Mount. Dating to the late Second Temple period (first century BCE–70 CE), the exceptionally well-preserved complex includes three large ritual baths (mikva'ot), a monumental plastered pool, a paved plaza and an extensive water system.
One of the ritual baths survives to its full height, including its vaulted stone ceiling, a rare example in Jerusalem of a Second Temple–period structure preserved from floor to ceiling. Archaeological excavations in the Ophel, the area immediately south of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, uncovered the complex near the "Triple Gate," one of the principal entrances to the Temple Mount. The excavations were directed by professors Uzi Leibner and Orit Peleg-Barkat of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The complex's location and monumental character suggest it played an important role in accommodating the large numbers of Jewish pilgrims who came to Jerusalem and underwent ritual purification before visiting the Temple. At the center of the complex, built in the early first century CE, is a large plastered pool measuring approximately 12 by 9.5 meters (39 by 31 feet), with steps descending into it from all four sides. Northwest of the pool stands a finely built ashlar structure containing four rooms, three of which were identified as large public ritual baths.
Altogether, the complex covers approximately 280 square meters (3,000 square feet). One of the ritual baths is exceptionally well preserved, surviving to its full height of 4.2 meters (14 feet), including the stone vault above it and the shaft through which it was supplied with water. The preservation of a Second Temple–period structure from floor to ceiling is exceedingly rare in Jerusalem, particularly in such a central and historically significant location.
Two of the ritual baths feature carefully hewn ashlar steps. Between the large pool and the ashlar structure lies a forecourt paved with large, finely dressed stone slabs. "A monumental ashlar structure devoted entirely to ritual purification, situated at the foot of the Temple Mount and near one of its gates, is a truly unparalleled phenomenon," say excavation directors Leibner and Peleg-Barkat.
"The complex goes to the heart of our research into the archaeology of Second Temple–period pilgrimage: how the area immediately south of the Temple Mount was designed to accommodate the many pilgrims who came to Jerusalem to visit the Temple, and what activities and rituals took place near its gates." The ritual baths and pool were connected to an extensive drainage system consisting of channels preserved in places to a height of more than 2 meters (6.6 feet). These channels carried water from the complex toward the Kidron Valley. Their impressive dimensions indicate that large volumes of water passed through the system and suggest the complex may have been supplied by a permanent source of running water, possibly a branch of the aqueduct that supplied the Temple during the Second Temple period.
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