2,000-year-old ritual bath discovered near Jerusalem

A 2,000-year old ritual bath was discovered near Jerusalem under a living room of a private house, the Israeli Antiquities Authority said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ancient ritual bath, known in Hebrew as a mikve, was discovered amid renovations at a private home in Ein Karem, a village near Jerusalem, and believed to have originated from the period of the Second Temple, which was a Jewish temple situated in Jerusalem between 516 BC and 70 AD, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the antiquities authority, the mikve was 3.5 metres in length, 2.4 metres in width, 1.8 metres in depth, and built out of rocks and plaster.

According to the authority, they've discovered a staircase, pottery vessels believed to be crafted during the first century AD and fragments of stone vessels.

"Such instances of finding antiquities beneath a private home can happen only in Israel and Jerusalem in particular," Amit Re'em, a Jerusalem district archaeologist, was quoted in the antiquity authority's statement as saying.