By Daniel Corado —
Excavations at Israel’s Pool of Siloam are showing that Jerusalem water engineers were undertaking vast hydraulic projects early than previously thought, thanks to twigs found between the bricks that could Carbon-dated more accurately than is typical.
Previously, archaeologists credited King Hezekiah with the building the pool as he fortified the water intake chunnel from the Gihon Spring when the Assyrians were coming to attack. The new findings reveal that the original builder was King Joash (or King Amaziah).
“One thing is for sure, it predates Hezekiah,” says Danny “the digger” Herman, archaeologist and tour guide in Israel. “Okay, it’s about 200 years earlier.”
Continuing digs confirm the Bible, unlike the Qur’an and the Book of Mormon, which have NO archaeological backing (The Qur’an says Mecca was the Mother of all Cities, a center of trade. Excavations for the building of huge skyscrapers have turned up nothing to support this claim.)
Archaeologists speculate that Joash build the dam to store precious water during drought periods, control dangerous flash floods, create a large reservoir system in the southern part of the city and help Jerusalem cope with a period of lower rainfall punctuated by intense storms.
The dam once lay under a Greek Orthodox Church and could not be excavated until it was sold.
The dam measures 69 feet long, 39 feet high and 26 feet wide.
