Archaeologists from the United States and Israel have discovered well-preserved lower levels of what they believe is an early Roman period mansion, possibly belonging to a member of the Jewish ruling priestly caste. If the mansion does prove to be an elite priestly residence, the team hopes the relatively undisturbed nature of the buried ruin may yield significant domestic details concerning the rulers of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus (the 1st century CE).
This image shows the archaeological site at Jerusalem’s Mt. Zion. The site reveals many layers of the city’s cultural history, including a first-century mansion. Image credit: Shimon Gibson.
The archaeologists unearthed a vaulted chamber that has proven to be a bathroom with bathtub adjacent to a large below-ground ritual cleansing pool – mikveh – only the fourth bathroom to be found in Israel from the Second Temple period, with two of the others found in palaces of Herod the Great at Jericho and Masada.
“The addition of the bathroom to the mikveh is a clear sign of the wealth and status of the resident,” said team member Dr Shimon Gibson of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
“The bathroom is very important because hitherto, except for Jerusalem, it is usually found within palace complexes, associated with the rulers of the country. We have examples of bathrooms of this kind mainly in palatial buildings.”
“There are other details about the site that suggest that its 1st century CE residents may have been members of the ruling elite. The building that we are excavating is in the shadow – immediately to the southeast – of the very, very large palace of Herod the Great, his compound and the later seat of the Roman governors (praetorium).’
“The location is a strong indication of a high-status resident. Whoever lived in this house would have been a neighbor and would have been able to pop into the palace.”
The team also unearthed a large number of murex shells, the largest number ever found in the ruins of first-century Jerusalem. Species of murex – a genus of Mediterranean sea snail – were highly valued in Roman times because of a rich purple dye that could be extracted from the living creature.
“This color was highly desired. The dye industry seems to be something that was supervised by the priestly class for the priestly vestments and for other aspects of clothing which were vital for those who wished to officiate in the capital precincts,” Dr Gibson explained.
A bath chamber with a bathtub was found buried at Mt. Zion first-century mansion site, connected to the structure’s mikveh. Image credit: Shimon Gibson.
Why anyone in Jerusalem would be in possession of such a very large quantity of murex shells, however, remains a mystery to the team, since the shells are not involved in the actual dye making process. The scientists hypothesize that the shells may have been used to identify different grades of dye, since the quality of the product can vary from species to species. Some species are used to make a turquoise blue dye.
“It is significant that these are household activities which may have been undertaken by the priests. If so, it tells us a lot more about the priests than we knew before. We know from the writings of Josephus Flavius and later rabbinical texts about their activities in the area of the Jewish temple, but there is hardly any information about their priestly activities outside the holy precinct. This is new information, and that is quite exciting. We might find in future seasons further aspects of industries which were supervised by these priestly families,” Dr Gibson said.
“The domestic details of the first-century Jewish ruling class may yield insights into New Testament history. Jesus, in fact, criticizes the wealth of this class. He talks about their clothing and their long robes and their finery, and, in a sense, pokes fun at it. So for us to get closer to understanding that – to supplement the text – it could be really fascinating,” said team member Dr James Tabor, also from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
At the bottom of the residence’s large, 30-foot deep cistern, the archaeologists found cooking pots and the remains of an oven. They are considering these items as a possible indication that the emptied cistern was used as a refuge by Jewish residents hiding from Roman soldiers during the siege of 70 CE.
“When we started clearing it we found a lot of debris inside, which included substantial numbers of animal bones and then right at the bottom we came across a number of vessels, which seemed to be sitting on the floor – cooking pots and bits of an oven as well,” Dr Gibson said.
“We still need to look at this material very carefully and be absolutely certain of our conclusions, but it might be that these are the remnants of a kitchen in use by Jews hiding from the Romans — their last resort was to go into these cisterns. It was a common practice, but this conclusion is theoretical. It makes for a very good story and it does look that way, but we’ve got to be certain.”
Dr Gibson said that the Roman-Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus talks about such a scene in his description of the siege: “One John, a leader of the rebels, along with his brother Simon, who were found starved to death in the cisterns and water systems that ran under the city. Over 2,000 bodies found in the various underground chambers, most dead from starvation. (Josephus, War 6:429-433).”
Dr Gibson said the rich amount of detail and archaeological information present at the first century level of the dig with the accident of the site’s location in Jerusalem. “Ruins in major urban areas are rarely preserved with parts of the structure buried intact because subsequent residents tend to cannibalize buildings for materials for their own structures. However, when the Jerusalem of Jesus’s era was destroyed by the occupying Romans in 70 CE, it was deserted for 65 years, until the Roman Emperor Hadrian re-built a city on the ruins in 135 CE. At that point however, the new development was on the other side of the present-day city and Mount Zion was left unoccupied.”
This image shows a murex snail shell from the Mt. Zion dig, associated with the site’s first-century mansion. A large number of murex shells were found at the site, indicating a possible connection to the luxury dye trade. Image credit: James Tabor.
“The ruined field of 1st century houses in our area remained there intact up until the beginning of the Byzantine period (early 4th century CE),” Dr Gibson said.
“When the Byzantine inhabitants built there, they leveled things off a bit but they used the same plan of the older houses, building their walls on top of the older walls.”
Subsequently, the sixth century Byzantine Emperor Justinian contributed another layer of preservation when he completed the construction of a massive new cathedral, the Nea Ekklesia of the Theotokos, just to the north-east of the site on Mt. Zion. The construction involved the excavation of enormous underground reservoirs and the excavation fill was dumped downhill, burying the more recent Byzantine constructions.
