A Ritual Bath 30 Metres From the Temple, Sealed in Ash

Archaeologists digging beneath the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem have uncovered a rock-hewn Jewish ritual bath from the last days of the Second Temple period, adding physical evidence of how Jews lived and observed around the Temple complex nearly 2,000 years ago. The excavation was run by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the government body responsible for archaeology in Israel, and its director, Ari Levy, described the find to The Press Service of Israel.

A mikveh is a pool of water used for ritual immersion under Jewish law. "Many ancient ritual baths have been found in Jerusalem, but not in such proximity to the Temple location," Levy said. "It is significantly close to the Temple. It is located only 30 meters (98 feet) west of the Temple site and in proximity to the main entranceways to the Temple Mount."

What the ash layer means

The bath was sealed beneath layers of ash left by Jerusalem's destruction at Roman hands. Ash was found inside the sealing layer along with pottery vessels and stone containers of a kind characteristic of Jewish households in the late Second Temple period. The antiquities authority said the context of the ash leaves little doubt that the installation was in use until the final moments before the city fell.

That sealing is what makes the find useful. A layer laid down in a single catastrophe fixes everything under it to a moment. The Times of Israel, reporting the announcement on 29 December 2025, quoted the antiquities authority as calling it the first stratigraphic identification in this area of the burnt layer from the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency and The Jerusalem Post reported the same day that the find was announced jointly by the antiquities authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

The bath itself

The mikveh is rectangular, a little over three metres (about 9.8 feet) long, with plastered walls and four carefully carved steps leading down into it. Plaster matters here: unlike the tunnel walls at some other sites, a mikveh had to hold water, and the lining is part of what identifies it.

A city organised around purity

The excavation area sits close to what were once the main entrances to the Temple compound, including the Great Bridge to the north and Robinson's Arch to the south. Earlier digs in the same area have turned up further ritual baths and stone vessels, which strengthens the picture of a neighbourhood built around Temple activity and the observance of ritual purity law.

Researchers believe the bath served both local residents and the large numbers of pilgrims who came to Jerusalem, especially at festivals. In Temple-era Jerusalem, ritual purity was not confined to priests or to formal religious settings; it ran through ordinary daily life across the city. The Times of Israel quoted Levy making the practical point: before entering the Temple, a person had to purify themselves in a mikveh, and the pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot brought crowds who all needed somewhere to do it.

Where the bath ends up

The digging is being carried out alongside development work intended to open more of the underground area beneath the Western Wall Plaza to visitors. The antiquities authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which runs the day-to-day affairs of the Western Wall, said the mikveh is expected to become part of the expanded underground route.

The Western Wall is the holiest place at which Jews can pray and is the surviving remnant of a retaining wall that once encircled the Temple Mount, built by Herod the Great in the first century. The Temple Mount, where the First and Second Temples stood, is the holiest site in Judaism.

What is still unclear

The statement did not give a construction date for the bath, only that it was in use until the destruction. It did not say how long the excavation has been running or how much of the surrounding area has been opened. Nor did it give a timetable for when the mikveh will be accessible to the public on the underground route.