Temple Mount Ritual Baths Unearthed After Two Millennia

Archaeologists have uncovered the Temple Mount Ritual Baths, a monumental Second Temple-era purification complex at the foot of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, most likely used by Jewish pilgrims visiting the Temple two thousand years ago. According to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount Ritual Baths were built in the early first century CE and include a large plastered pool, three large public ritual baths, an extensive water system and a forecourt paved with finely dressed stone slabs.

A Rare Glimpse of Pilgrimage in Ancient Jerusalem

The excavations took place in the Ophel, the area immediately south of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, near the Triple Gate, one of the principal entrances to the Temple Mount. They were directed by Prof. Uzi Leibner and Prof. Orit Peleg-Barkat of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The discovery was announced on October 2, 2026, and reported by Phys.org as dating to the late Second Temple period, between the first century BCE and 70 CE.

At the center of the complex stands a large, plastered pool measuring approximately 12 by 9.5 meters, with broad steps descending into it from all four sides. Northwest of the pool, excavators found a finely built ashlar structure containing four rooms; archaeologists identified three of the rooms as large public ritual baths. Altogether, the Temple Mount Ritual Baths complex covers approximately 280 square meters, making it one of the most substantial purification installations ever found in the city.

One of the ritual baths is exceptionally well preserved, surviving to its full height of 4.2 meters, including the stone vault above it and the shaft through which it was supplied with water. Researchers said the preservation of a Second Temple-period structure from floor to ceiling is exceedingly rare in Jerusalem, particularly in such a central and historically significant location. Two of the ritual baths feature carefully hewn ashlar steps, and between the large pool and the ashlar structure lies a forecourt paved with large, finely dressed stone slabs.

Why Ritual Purity Mattered to Pilgrims

Ritual immersion was a central practice of Jewish religious life in the Second Temple period. Pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem for the three major festivals of Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot would have been required to immerse themselves before entering the Temple precincts, making the Temple Mount Ritual Baths a practical necessity of the ancient pilgrimage economy.

The scale of the complex suggests it served large numbers of visitors. With a central pool, three public baths, an extensive water system and a paved plaza, the site appears designed to handle the flow of pilgrims arriving at one of the most sacred destinations of the ancient world. The location, steps from the Triple Gate, places the Temple Mount Ritual Baths directly on the path worshippers would have walked toward the Temple.

Discoveries like this fill in the picture of daily life in ancient Jerusalem beyond the monumental architecture of the Temple itself. They show how religious obligation, urban infrastructure and commerce were woven together. Pilgrims needed places to stay, to eat, to buy offerings and, crucially, to purify themselves before approaching the holy site. Each of those needs left traces in the archaeological record, and the Temple Mount Ritual Baths rank among the most revealing found so far.

The Ophel has produced a steady stream of such finds in recent years, part of a wider boom in archaeology across the region. Related coverage: Korea's oldest firearm, unearthed during a landmine sweep and ancient weapons emerging from Norway's melting glaciers.

Because Jerusalem has been continuously inhabited for thousands of years, intact structures from the early first century CE are unusual, and later construction has destroyed most of what once stood. That is why archaeologists describe the floor-to-ceiling survival of the Temple Mount Ritual Baths as so significant, and why further study of the water system, the construction sequence and the coins recovered at the site is expected to sharpen the picture of pilgrimage in the final decades before the Temple's destruction. The full announcement with photographs is available at the American Friends of the Hebrew University.