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<p>During the first century BCE and first century CE, hundreds of stepped water installations were built and used as Jewish ritual purification baths in households across the southern Levant. While archaeological research has shown that most of these pools gradually fell out of use during the second century CE, the reasons for this change remain unclear. Paleoclimatic and archaeological analyses suggest, however, that the abandonment of stepped pools coincides with a period when the southern Levantine climate would have rapidly grown more arid. To examine how a climatic shift impacted the (ritual) usability of stepped pools, we developed the first detailed rainwater harvesting model for stepped pools and tested it using different climate scenarios onto Stepped pool 85.3226 at the site of Sepphoris, northern Israel. We observed that under more arid climate conditions the stepped pool was annually usable 1–5 months less than under wet climate conditions, with the pool being only 60% of the year usable on average. Our modelling further revealed that the usability of the stepped pool from year to year became less predictable, as aridification of climate meant that both the frequency and magnitude of drought periods increased. In conclusion, we suggest that this decline in predictability in the correct functioning of the stepped pool provided uncertainty, leading to less willingness to invest in the maintenance of this stepped pool and the (ritual) practices associated with it.</p>

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Modelling the impact of climatic changes on the usability of Jewish ritual purification baths in Roman Palestine: a case study from Sepphoris

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  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月28日

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  • Rick Bonnie,
  • Niko Aarnio,
  • Teemu Kokkonen

摘要

During the first century BCE and first century CE, hundreds of stepped water installations were built and used as Jewish ritual purification baths in households across the southern Levant. While archaeological research has shown that most of these pools gradually fell out of use during the second century CE, the reasons for this change remain unclear. Paleoclimatic and archaeological analyses suggest, however, that the abandonment of stepped pools coincides with a period when the southern Levantine climate would have rapidly grown more arid. To examine how a climatic shift impacted the (ritual) usability of stepped pools, we developed the first detailed rainwater harvesting model for stepped pools and tested it using different climate scenarios onto Stepped pool 85.3226 at the site of Sepphoris, northern Israel. We observed that under more arid climate conditions the stepped pool was annually usable 1–5 months less than under wet climate conditions, with the pool being only 60% of the year usable on average. Our modelling further revealed that the usability of the stepped pool from year to year became less predictable, as aridification of climate meant that both the frequency and magnitude of drought periods increased. In conclusion, we suggest that this decline in predictability in the correct functioning of the stepped pool provided uncertainty, leading to less willingness to invest in the maintenance of this stepped pool and the (ritual) practices associated with it.