Tal, the owner of the house, stands in a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, stands in a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, stands near a wooden door that leads to a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, descends on a ladder inside a wooden door that leads to a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, prepares to open a wooden door that leads to a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Archeological artifacts that were discovered under the living room of a house in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, where a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, was discovered under the carpet in the room during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, places a ladder inside a wooden door that leads to a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, opens a wooden door that leads to a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, stands in a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Ancient steps lead to a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under the living room of a private house in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Tal, the owner of the house, kneels in a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, that was discovered under his living room in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, during renovations, July 1, 2015. The Israeli owners of the private house discovered a pair of wooden doors beneath a rug which led to the ancient ritual bath. Archeologist say the discovery is important since Ein Kerem is considered a place sacred to Christianity where according to the New Testament, John the Baptist was born and where his pregnant mother Elizabeth met Mary, mother of Jesus. The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple located in what is the Ein Kerem neighborhood today. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Amit Re'em, Jerusalem District Archaeologist, stands in the living room of a house in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel, where a 2,000 year old mikveh, Jewish ritual bath, was discovered under the carpet, right, in the room during renovations, July 1, 2015.Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

JERUSALEM, July 1 (UPI) -- A ritual bath, over 2,000 years old, was discovered under a private residence in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday.

The room, or mikvah, found in southwestern Jerusalem's Ein Kerem neighborhood, dates to the Holy Land's Second Temple era, in the first century A.D. It features a stairway carved from rock and an immersion pool surrounded by walls plastered in accordance with then-existing Jewish laws regarding purity and sanitation. It was found by an unidentified family living in the home as they renovated the living room. Fragments of pottery found at the site helped identify the date of the room's construction.


The family said it was reluctant to call the Antiquities Authority for fear of the "consequences" involved in owning an archeological treasure. "Our sense of civic and public duty clinched it for us," one family member said. They simply covered the opening to the room with a wooden door and lived with the find beneath them for years.

"The discovery of the ritual bath reinforces the hypothesis there was a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple, located in the region of what is today 'Ein Kerem," Avit Re'em of the Antiquities Authority said, adding archeological remains from the Second Temple era are rare.

The neighborhood is regarded as sacred by Christians; regarded as part of the New Testament's "City of Judah," it is believed to be the birthplace of John the Baptist, and where his mother Elizabeth met with Jesus' mother, Mary.