How do you move a 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath weighing about 25 metric tons without damaging it?
That was the challenge recently faced by conservation specialists from the Israel Antiquities Authority after a mikveh, or Jewish ritual bath, was uncovered during excavations in the Karmei Gat neighborhood of Kiryat Gat.
Rather than dismantle the ancient structure, crews removed it from the ground in one piece and transferred it to temporary storage. Once development work at the site is completed, the mikveh is expected to be returned and incorporated into a public open space in the heart of the new neighborhood.
The ritual bath was discovered during an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation funded by the Israel Land Authority, which has financed rescue excavations across the neighborhood at a cost of about 28 million shekels.
The discovery provided clear evidence of a Jewish community at the site around 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists also uncovered stone measuring vessels, objects that according to Jewish law do not contract ritual impurity and were therefore commonly used by Jews during the Second Temple period.
(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
“The Jewish settlement we discovered here is the first and only one known in this area,” excavation directors Elena Kogan-Zehavi, Maayan Margulis and Shira Lifshitz said. “Many Jewish settlements from the Roman period are known in the Judean foothills, but until now no Jewish settlement was known in the transition zone between the Judean foothills and the northern Negev.”
Based on the findings, archaeologists believe the settlement was abandoned around the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the second century CE. Settlement resumed at the site only about 500 years later, during the Byzantine period, this time with a different population.
A 25-ton conservation challenge
As construction advanced, conservation officials faced an unusual problem: how to temporarily move an ancient structure weighing roughly 25 metric tons and measuring about 4 meters, or 13 feet, across without destroying it.
A four-person conservation team spent about two weeks working around the mikveh while it was still embedded in the ground. They first excavated around the structure and exposed it on all sides. Crews then drilled closely spaced holes beneath it and inserted steel beams to reinforce the mikveh and allow it to be separated from the earth.
The ancient plaster lining the bath required special protection as well. To keep it from flaking away under the vibrations of lifting and transport, conservators covered it with gauze and binding materials. The entire structure was then braced with foam to help it withstand the movement.
(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
Even after the mikveh had been separated from the ground, the most delicate part of the operation remained.
Because the crane had to stand some distance from the bath, engineers brought in a massive crane capable of lifting 300 tons to raise the 25-ton structure. Its unusual width also required a specialized trailer designed for oversized loads.
Transporting the mikveh to Beit Guvrin became an operation in its own right. The road was closed to traffic while escort vehicles traveled ahead of and behind the truck carrying the ancient structure.
“Once you lift a structure like this, there is no going back,” said Eyal Kahu, a senior conservator with the Israel Antiquities Authority who led the operation. “If it falls apart, we have lost the mikveh. You have to think through every detail in advance.”
(Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
“The day before an operation like this, you don’t sleep,” he added. “You’re under pressure because the responsibility is yours and there is no room for mistakes. Even after 36 years at the Israel Antiquities Authority, the adrenaline rises every time.”
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said the discovery adds an important piece to the understanding of Jewish settlement in the region during the Second Temple period.
“The complex operation carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority to move it intact reflects our commitment as a country to preserving heritage assets even amid rapid development,” he said.
Once the construction work is completed, the mikveh is expected to return to the neighborhood, where planners intend to display it in a public area.
That, Eliyahu said, will allow residents and visitors to encounter tangible evidence of a Jewish community that lived there some 2,000 years ago as part of their everyday surroundings.