A preliminary report on the Miqwa'ot of Migdal

In recent excavations at Migdal/Magdala, situated between the Sea of Galilee and Mount Arbel, three water installations were exposed in the late Second Temple period village. In each, a wide staircase descends to the bottom. The staircases and the lower part of the walls are constructed of basalt ashlars. These installations should be identified as miqwa'ot (ritual baths). Significantly, none of them were plastered. As they make use of groundwater, which infiltrates into them through their unplastered bottoms (in the winter of 2012 they were observed full of water), they are the first of this type to be discovered.