New Observations on the Siloam Water System: Tunnels VI and VIII

Abstract

The article discusses two stages in the hewing of the northern section of the Siloam Water System,Tunnel VI, which connected the Gihon Spring with Warren’s Shaft. The author proposes that the two stages belonged to two different systems. The first stage, which probably dates to ca. 800 BCE, featured a wide tunnel with a low ceiling (the low and wide part of Tunnel VI). The second stage featured the raising of the ceiling of Tunnel VI, which took place while cutting Tunnel VIII (the Siloam Tunnel), directing the waters of the Gihon to the Lower Pool at the southern tip of the city. The article also suggests that Hezekiah began cutting Tunnel VIII a few years before Sennacherib’s campaign in Judah but completed it only after the Assyrian withdrawal. With the threat of Sennacherib’s siege imminent, Hezekiah lengthened Channel II to the Lower Pool.