The surprise discovery of an ancient drainage tunnel in Jerusalem provides archeologists with insight into life in the Jewish capital during the Second Temple period.
By Netanel Doron
Israeli archaeologists stumbled upon an important historical find outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, on the steep road leading down to the Pool of Siloam where Jesus healed the blind man (John 9:1-11). They had been digging in the area for three months, searching for what was the main road in Jerusalem during biblical times.
The sudden collapse of a stone wall revealed a hole, and when archeologists Eli Shukron and Ronny Reich climbed in the spectacle before them took their breath away. They found themselves in a well-preserved tunnel made of hewn stones, about seven meters (yards) below today’s streets. It is about 70 meters long, 2 to 2.5 meters high and 1 meter wide.
“The discovery of the tunnel was a total surprise,” Shukron told Israel Today during a tour of the site. “As we were entering, we also discovered the street we were searching for, above us. The street was used by Jewish pilgrims to ascend to the Temple on the three great pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot [the Feast of Weeks] and Sukkot [the Feast of Tabernacles].”
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