Family Finds 2,000-Year Old Ritual Bath Beneath Their Living Room Floor

(Photo: Assaf Perez/IAA)

A family in Jerusalem, Israel found an incredible archaeological find beneath their living room floor: a huge, well-preserved, and ancient mikveh, which is a Jewish ritual bath. It's carved directly into the rock and lined with plaster. Pottery fragments suggest to archaeologists that it dates back to the First Century A.D. Haartez describes the find:

When they did call in the Israel Antiquities Authority, beneath the doors, the archaeologists found the carved stone staircase leaving to a big mikveh, 3.5 meters in length and 2.4 meters wide, with a depth of 1.8 meters.

The rock-hewn bath was meticulously plastered according to the laws of purity appearing in halacha. The staircase leads to the bottom of the immersion pool.

-via Messy Nessy Chic