Ancient 'ritual bath' and elite villa unearthed by Jerusalem's Western Wall

Live Science ^ | published 9 days ago | Tom Metcalfe

[SunkenCiv]

The installation of a new elevator led to the ancient finds.

Archaeological excavations beside Jerusalem's Western Wall have unearthed thousands of years of the city's history — including an ornate 2,000-year-old villa with a private mikveh, or ritual bath.

The Western Wall is one of the holiest sites in Judaism and it's visited by millions of worshipers and tourists each year. But visitors typically have to descend 142 steps or make a long detour around the city walls to reach the holy site.

Permission was given to a development company in 2017 to build two elevators for better disabled access to make the 85-foot (26 meter) descent beside the existing steps at the edge of the Old City's Jewish Quarter, and archaeologists began excavating the tiny area in 2019...

The archaeological excavations ended a few months ago, after the discovery of structures and artifacts from at least five different phases of the ancient city's extensive history. Legal requirements, however, mean that the elevators won't start operating beside the southwestern end of the Western Wall Plaza until 2025.

The Western Wall is what remains on the surface of a supporting wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, built by the Roman client king Herod the Great in the first century B.C...

But in A.D. 70, Roman rulers of Jerusalem destroyed the Second Temple and other structures on Temple Mount as punishment for a Jewish rebellion. In the seventh century, Muslims conquered Jerusalem and built the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine.

[SunkenCiv]

the rest of the mikveh keyword:

• The Palestinians' Most Dangerous Enemy Is Archaeology [10/10/2020]
• Video of Cowboys Players Baptized at The Star Goes Viral [12/08/2017]
• Knesset passes law blocking mikvah access for non-Orthodox conversions (Jewish Caucus) [07/28/2016]
• Archaeologists Find Ancient Collector's Hoard of Hasmonean Coins [06/14/2016]
• Archaeology Discovery: Rare Artifacts From Jesus' Time Found at Orphanage in Jerusalem [03/21/2016]
• Construction project leads to discovery of ancient Jewish ritual bath with mysterious writing [08/12/2015]
• 'Ancient Hebrew inscriptions' baffle Israeli archaeologists [08/08/2015]
• Jerusalem family finds 2,000-year old mikveh underneath living room [07/01/2015]
• Shocking Anti-Mikveh Video Provokes Anger (überliberals in Israel) [10/13/2014]
• Expellees' Appeal: Save the Synagogue [09/02/2012]
• Israeli researcher: Mikvehs show that Galilee cave dwellers were likely kohanim [04/28/2012]
• Biblical Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem [08/09/2005]
• Group Discovers John the Baptist Cave [08/16/2004]

[SunkenCiv]

"Facts in the ground" topic / post it and stand back topic.

[glorgau]

Pretty much impossible to stick a shovel in the ground and not hit something historical around there.

[fidelis]

If this villa they unearthed containing mikvahs is indeed 2000 years old, being that it was built so close to the Western Wall of the Temple means that it probably belonged to a Jew of some importance during the years that the Second Temple was still standing. Perhaps one of the High Priests.

[nopardons]

BTTT

[Big Red Badger]

I’d say I’ve walked over
That site,
Fascinating!