ISRAEL-BATH New flooring leads to discovery of ancient bath in Jerusalem village

Record ID: 148806

  • Title: ISRAEL-BATH New flooring leads to discovery of ancient bath in Jerusalem village
  • Date: 1st July 2015
  • Summary: EIN KAREM, JERUSALEM (JULY 1, 2015) (REUTERS) HOMEOWNER, TAL, UNROLLING CARPET TAL OPENING DOOR TAL CLIMBING DOWN LADDER VARIOUS OF TAL EXAMINING RITUAL BATH VARIOUS OF TAL TOUCHING RITUAL BATH TAL AND JERUSALEM DISTRICT ARCHEOLOGIST ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY, AMIT REEM, EXAMINING RITUAL BATHS (SOUNDBITE) (English) JERUSALEM DISTRICT ARCHEOLOGIST OF ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES A
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jerusalem
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9L5QF9A220DDEA0QV5BY31VK8
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A Jerusalem family has found a 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath under their house while renovating the living room floor, Israel's Antiquities Authority said on Wednesday (July 1).
    A rug-covered trapdoor, built into the new floor after the bath was found, now marks the spot where stone stairs descend into the ancient chamber, which is 3.5 metres (11 feet) long, 2.4 metres (8 feet) wide and 1.8 metres (6 feet) deep.
    Jerusalem's District Archeologist for Israel's Antiquities Authority, Amit Reem, spearheaded the excavation efforts, which begun immediately after the family notified authorities of their unique discovery.
    "A few days ago we got a call from this lovely family and they tell us, please come to our home, we want to show you something. They didn't mention nothing, and I, as the representative of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, came to their house, I was sitting up above on a chair suddenly they told me, sir, please remove your chair. They removed my chair, they unrolled the carpet, which was on the floor of the living room, and suddenly I see those two huge doors leading to a ritual bath, a 'mikvah' (Hebrew for Bath), dating 2,000 years ago," said Reem.
    Pottery vessels inside the rock-hewn bath helped archaeologists date the discovery to the 1st century.
    "Inside this ritual bath, this 'mikvah', we find pottery and very unique, special vessels made of stone from the Jerusalem chalk. All this is pointing toward the topic there that 2,000 years ago, in the Second Temple Period, there was a Jewish village here under the modern building of Ein Karem," said Reem.
    Signs of burns on the floors and stairs suggest an intense fire during the Second Temple Period, which could be evidence of Jerusalem's destruction by the Romans, beginning in 66 AD.
    The house is in the village of Ein Karem, the traditional birthplace of John the Baptist and now a Jerusalem neighbourhood.
    Homeowner, Oriah, reluctant to give her last name, expressed her excitement in the discovery, and the connection she and her family now have, with history.
    "Knowing that there was another family, another Jewish family, that lived here, in the same place, so many years ago, it used to be their house, it used to be their ritual bath, it's very exciting," said Oriah.
    The Antiquities Authority said that despite New Testament references to the "City of Judea", believed to be where Ein Karem is now located, archaeological remains from Jesus's time have rarely been found in the village.
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