2,000-YEAR-OLD MIKVEH PULLED INTACT FROM THE GROUND IN ISRAEL...

A 2,000-year-old Jewish ritual bath unearthed in Kiryat Gat has been lifted from the ground whole, the Israel Antiquities Authority said. The 25-ton mikveh points to a previously unknown Second Temple community in the seam between the Judean Lowlands and the northern Negev.

Excavation director Elena Kogan-Zahavi said no Jewish settlement was known in that seam until now. Stone measuring vessels from the period were also found. The site appears to have been abandoned during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The bath will return to the city for public display.