Image Details

Zev Radovan

MIKVEH? This reservoir (identified as locus 71 on the plan) was only partially exposed by Father Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Magen and his team completed the excavation and discovered more than 3 tons of high-quality potters’ clay, which had been carried to the site in floodwater and collected at the bottom of the large reservoir for use in pottery manufacture. Magen argues that the steps (not visible in photo) leading down into the pool were constructed to provide structural support for the unstable marl wall of the cistern, rather than to serve any sort of ritual bathing purpose.