Mysterious inscriptions found in 2,000-year-old ritual bath in Jerusalem

Researchers with the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday they unearthed an ancient encoded message on the walls of a 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath in Jerusalem.

The find was discovered by chance two month, during a routine archaeological inspection ahead of the construction of a nursery school in the neighborhood of Arnona in southern Jerusalem.

During excavation, a large ritual bath ("mikve," in Hebrew) dating to the first century AD was exposed inside an underground cave. An anteroom, with benches on its sides, led to the bath. Alongside the ritual bath, the researchers found a winepress.

"The walls of the mikve were adorned with numerous wall paintings and inscriptions, written in mud, soot and incising," the Antiquities Authority said in a statement.

The inscriptions are in the ancient language of Aramaic and written in cursive Hebrew script, which was customary at the end of the Second Temple period, an era in Jewish history that began in 530 BC and ended in 70 AD, with the destruction of the second Jewish Temple by the Romans.

Among the symbols that are drawn on the bath's walls are a boat, palm trees, various plant species, and possibly even a Jewish candelabrum called menorah, the researchers said. All the symbols were common elements in the visual arts of the Second Temple period, according to the team.

"At this point in the research the inscriptions are a mystery," said Royee Greenwald, co-director of the excavation, adding that some of the inscriptions might indicate names.

The possible drawing of a menorah is exceptional, he said. "In those days they abstained from portraying this sacred object which was located in the Temple," he explained.

"On the one hand the symbols can be interpreted as secular, and on the other as symbols of religious significance and deep spirituality," he added.

The researchers noted that the paintings are highly sensitive and exposure to the air might damage them.

However, the Jerusalem Municipality, which says the site has a "great importance" to the Jewish identity of the city, wants to keep the inscriptions on public display, after treating them with conservation methods.

The site "is of tremendous value to our identity as a Jewish people (and) might shine more light on the lives of our ancestors in the city of Jerusalem," said Moshe Tur-Paz, head of the Education Administration at the Jerusalem Municipality.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War and claimed it as its capital, in a move not recognized by the international community. Endit