This video was posted in 2012. In the video, archaeologist Dr. Eli Shukron discusses finds from a drainage tunnel in Jerusalem; a narrator’s comments are edited in. A script of the video follows.
Eli Shukron
Archaeologist, Department of Antiquities
Shukron: Here we are in the drainage tunnel in Jerusalem.
The main tunnel that was part of the huge construction project that included the Temple Mount.
Above us is the main street of Jerusalem.
Walking on this main street inevitably dropped things.
And when they fell onto the road, they rolled into the tunnel underneath the road.
Narrator: Eight years of intensive excavation yielded a wealth of finds that tell the story of ancient Jerusalem.
Among the hundreds of finds unearthed in the tunnel is: the sword of a Roman soldier, close to the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, a dramatic event occurred. The Romans made a search for underground tunnels, and when they found where they were, they broke up the ground and slew all they met with the sword.
An additional find that was revealed is an engraved stone from the Second Temple period.
Shukron: Someone left us a souvenir from two thousand years ago. Someone who was here around the Temple and saw the Menorah with his own eyes left us a reminder. He engraved the Menorah on a stone, one of three found here in Jerusalem, and tossed it here into the tunnel.
Narrator: Perhaps the most incredible find is a small golden bell.
Shukron: We are talking about a bell, a tiny golden bell. Very impressive in its design. Apparently one of the bells once sewn onto the robe a nobleman or other important Jerusalem personality. Someone who when he walked, everyone heard the sound of bells and made way for him.
[Shukron shakes the small gold bell; it jingles.]
This is part of the story of that period. This is part of Jerusalem. What we find below tells the story of what occurred above, over two thousand years ago.
[A text slide appears with a quote from Exodus 29:31. The Narrator reads the quote.]
Text Slide Quote: “And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. . . . And upon the skirts of it thou shalt make pomegranates. . . . and bells of gold between them round about. A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about.”
[A harp emblem displays; the video ends.]
The tunnel is not named in the video, but appears to be mentioned in blog posts by Ritmeyer Archaeological Design (the Herodian sewer) and Tom Powers -- View From Jerusalem (Hezekiah’s Tunnel system).
Ritmeyer includes photos and drawings of the tunnel.
Powers includes two maps: the tunnel system location within the local area and the tunnel system itself, marked up with excavation dates.
Powers also notes that tunnel dig findings suggest a possible name change proposed by Dr. Shukron and Dr. Reich in a 2011 article: “The Date of the Siloam Tunnel Reconsidered.” Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, 38(2), 147-157.
