Pure Stone: Archaeological Evidence for Jewish Purity Practices in Late Second Temple Judaism (Miqwa’ot and Stone Vessels)

Abstract

Material devices of identity formation and group delineation are some of the most controversial topics in the current debate about the character of the material culture of ancient Palestinian Judaism. Among the most prominent examples are those elements that seem directly indicative of specifically ‘Jewish’ religious practices and beliefs, such as stepped pools (Miqwa’ot) or stone vessels. Stone vessels were hardly noticed before the 1960s, when intensive excavations in Jerusalem by Kathleen Kenyon (Ophel), Magen Broshi (Citadel), Nahman Avigad (Jewish Quarter), Yigal Shiloh (City of David) and Benjamin Mazar (Temple Mount) began to turn up large quantities in different types and forms. Fortunately, these joint scholarly efforts have pushed stone vessels from an often-overlooked piece of material culture to one of the best-known and most intensively discussed indicators of Jewish religious practice in Second Temple period Palestine. Keywords:archaeological evidence; Jewish purity practices; material culture; Miqwa’ot; Second temple Judaism; stone vessels