BIBLICAL accounts of the construction of a tunnel to bring fresh water to Jerusalem are probably true, say scientists who have radio dated it.
The tunnel brings water 500 metres from the Gihon spring to the Siloam pool in the heart of ancient Jerusalem. The biblical books of Kings and Chronicles say it was built around 700 BC, when King Hezekiah ruled Judea.
Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem led a team that dated plants and wood buried in the original plaster lining of the tunnel, as well as stalactites formed shortly after the tunnel was finished (Nature, vol 425, p 169). 鈥淲e think it was excavated around 700 BC,鈥� says Frumkin. 鈥淚t verifies the biblical account that King Hezekiah was responsible.鈥�
Advertisement