The historian Flavius Josephus describes the perennial spring at the southern end of Jerusalem. However, this is the only spring in the city that emerges east of the hill (the former City of David). This inaccuracy was explained by the fact that the spring was inaccessible since the late Iron Age, when Hezekiah’s Tunnel was cut and its waters ran to the south.

The area around the spring was never investigated until the recent excavations by Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, which have yielded not only unknown parts from the Middle Bronze II period but also data which show clearly that the spring was accessible in the first century CE. Large parts of the contemporary Siloam Pool were also uncovered, as well as the northern part of the paved esplanade around it and the southern edge of the stone paved street which ran from near the Temple Mount. This lecture will present the finds and discuss their precise date and meaning within the context of the Temple city.