Mikveh unearthed beneath Western Wall plaza shows evidence of Temple's destruction - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

"" Jerusalem should be remembered as a Temple city," said Ari Levy, the excavation director for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in the announcement. "As such, many aspects of daily life were adapted to this reality, and this is reflected especially in the meticulous observance of the laws of ritual impurity and purity by the city's residents and leaders." Levy noted that stone vessels, which do not contract ritual impurity under Jewish law, were common in the area."

""The exposure of a Second Temple period ritual bath beneath the Western Wall Plaza, with ashes from the destruction at its base, testifies like a thousand witnesses to the ability of the people of Israel to move from impurity to purity, from destruction to renewal.""

A 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath (mikveh) was uncovered beneath the Western Wall Plaza, located just west of the former Temple Mount entrance. The hewn-bedrock mikveh measures roughly 10 feet long, 4 feet 5 inches wide and 6 feet 1 inch high, with four steps leading into the bath. The installation was sealed beneath a destruction layer dated to 70 C.E. and contained ash, pottery shards and stone vessels. Stone vessels, which do not contract ritual impurity under Jewish law, were common in the area. The find links everyday ritual practice with the Temple-period urban landscape and the period’s abrupt destruction and subsequent renewal.

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