Ritual Baths with Double Entrances in the Jerusalem Hills: Architecture and Context

Cercetări Arheologice 33.1, 2026, 33-64
https://doi.org/10.46535/ca.33.1.03



Ritual Baths with Double Entrances in the Jerusalem Hills: Architecture and Context

Authors: Boaz Zissu Eitan Klein

Keywords:

Ritual baths (miqvaʾot); Double-entrance miqvaʾot; Ritual purity; Jerusalem Hills; Rural settlements; Pilgrimage routes; Hasmonean and Early Roman periods; Jerusalem hinterland

Abstract:

This article presents a group of eleven ritual baths (miqvaʾot) incorporating double entrances or related separation arrangements, documented at ten sites in the Jerusalem Hills. While such installations are well known from Jerusalem and a limited number of sites in Judea, their occurrence in the mountainous hinterland west of the city has until now remained insufficiently documented. The newly recorded examples, located within a radius of up to c. 20 km from Jerusalem, significantly expand the geographical distribution of this architectural type and contribute to the broader corpus of ritual baths of the late Second Temple period.

Architecturally, these installations are characterized by paired entrances separated by a rock-cut pier, or by internal arrangements designed to regulate movement within the bath. Such features are generally interpreted as enabling the separation of individuals descending in a state of impurity from those ascending after immersion, thereby preventing recontamination. This interpretation finds support in both archaeological parallels and rabbinic sources and has been further refined in recent scholarship to account for graded systems of purity observance and varying social practices.

The article situates the newly identified baths within their local archaeological contexts, which include rural settlements, agricultural installations, and sites located along routes leading to Jerusalem. Attention is given to their association with olive presses and other production facilities, as well as to their proximity to pathways that may have served pilgrims traveling to the city. These contexts suggest that ritual purity was not confined to urban or priestly environments but was deeply embedded in the economic and social life of rural communities. The evidence also provides archaeological context for the broader religious landscape of late Second Temple Judea, from which early Christianity emerged.

The study further explores the relationship between these installations and broader patterns of mobility and infrastructure in the Jerusalem hinterland. It is proposed that some of the larger or more carefully planned baths may have functioned as public or semi-public facilities, serving populations beyond individual settlements, including travelers and pilgrims. At the same time, variation in scale, location, and architectural complexity indicates that no single explanation accounts for all cases.

By integrating architectural analysis, regional survey data, and halakhic sources, this study argues that double-entrance ritual baths should be understood as part of a dynamic system linking rural production, movement toward Jerusalem, and the maintenance of ritual purity. The evidence underscores the widespread and socially embedded nature of purity practices in the late Second Temple period and highlights the active role of the Jerusalem hinterland within this broader cultural and religious landscape.

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How to cite: Boaz Zissu, Eitan Klein, Ritual Baths with Double Entrances in the Jerusalem Hills: Architecture and Context, Cercetări Arheologice, Vol. 33.1, pag. 33-64, 2026, doi: https://doi.org/10.46535/ca.33.1.03

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