BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Cave Found at Bottom of Gezer Water Tunnel

Bible and archaeology news

Archaeologists excavating the ancient Canaanite water tunnel at Gezer have uncovered a large natural cave near the bottom of the 150-foot-long rock-hewn tunnel, a cave that may ultimately prove to be the source of the tunnel’s water supply. The 2011 excavation of the Gezer tunnel—a project that Biblical Archaeology Review has called on for nearly three decades^*—removed more than 230 tons of dirt and allowed archaeologists to precisely map and measure the tunnel, the largest ancient water system ever unearthed in Israel. More important, the dig located a cave near the bottom of the tunnel that may have provided the Canaanites with access to a powerful underground spring.

Archaeologists excavating the ancient Canaanite water tunnel at Gezer have uncovered a large natural cave near the bottom of the 150-foot-long rock-hewn tunnel, a cave that may ultimately prove to be the source of the tunnel’s water supply.

^* See “It’s Finally Being Done,” sidebar to Ram Weinberger, Amihai Sneh and Eyal Shalev, “The Fault Beneath Their Feet,” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2010.
 

Learn more about Gezer in Bible History Daily:

Tel Gezer Water System Built by Canaanites?

The Solomonic Gate at Gezer

The “High Place” at Tel Gezer

Gezer Excavations Uncover Previously Unknown Canaanite City

Bilingual Boundary Stone Discovered at Tel Gezer

What’s the Oldest Hebrew Inscription? A Reply to Christopher Rollston