1st-century AD stepped monumental ritual immersion pool excavated at the southern end of the City of David
A massive, trapezoidal stone-stepped pool fed by the Siloam Tunnel, measuring over 60 meters wide with three sets of five stone stairs separated by landings, used by thousands of Jewish pilgrims for ritual purification before ascending the Stepped Pilgrimage Street to the Temple.
Rigorous 4-part empirical analysis separating ancient text from bias and consensus
Archaeological excavation uncovered the monumental stone pool with four coin deposits beneath the steps dating to Alexander Jannaeus, and coins on the steps dating to the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 AD).
Corroborates John 9:1–11 where Jesus sends the man born blind to wash in the Pool of Siloam ('Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which means Sent. So he went and washed and came back seeing').
Prior to 2004, visitors only knew the small Byzantine pool constructed by Empress Eudocia; Reich and Shukron's discovery uncovered the actual First-Century Second Temple reservoir described in John 9.
Monumental public ritual architecture built by Herodian civic engineers to facilitate massive pilgrim purifications.