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The winter 2024-25 edition of American Archaeology, the quarterly publication of the Archaeological Conservancy, featured two articles that focused on research by four New Hampshire Archeological Society members. “Unearthing Living Waters” is a story of investigations of three different historic mikva’ot or Jewish ritual baths. In addition to baths in New York City and Chesterfield, CT was a presentation of research at Strawbery Banke Museum.In the early 2000s Sheila Charles was a staff archaeologist at the Museum and learned from a former resident of a parcel of the existence of a "Jewish bath in the basement" of a former building. Sheila was able to follow up on the lead and had a remote sensing survey conducted which did indeed identify an anomaly suggestive of a buried rectangular masonry feature. Sheila went on to become the staff archaeologist in the NH Department of Transportation and Alix Martin assumed the position of archaeologist for Strawbery Banke Museum. In 2014 Alix directed a field school to investigate the anomaly and confirmed the presence of the mikveh. Working with members of the nearby Temple Israel Synagogue in Portsmouth, she was able to provide a concrete sense of connection to their own history as well as enhance the interpretation and presentation to the public of the place of this Jewish community in 19th and early 20th century Portsmouth.
American Archaeology has allowed us to reprint the article in full from the winter 2024-25 edition , the quarterly publication of the Archaeological
Conservancy,
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