Editing Pool of Siloam (section)

==Discovery in the 21st century==
[[File:The Second Temple Pool of Siloam.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|right|Remains of the Pool of Siloam from the Second Temple Period]]

The pool was rediscovered during an excavation work for a sewer in the autumn of 2004, by [[Ir David Foundation]] workers, following a request and directions given by archaeologists [[Eli Shukron]] accompanied by [[Ori Orbach]] from the [[Israel Nature and Parks Authority]]. Shukron and [[Ronny Reich]] (working with the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]]) uncovered stone steps, and it became obvious that these steps were likely to have been part of the [[Second Temple period]] pool. Excavations commenced and confirmed the initial supposition; the find was formally announced on August 9, 2005, and received substantial international media attention.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-12-23 |title=Archaeologists identify traces of 'miracle' pool |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna6750670 |access-date=2023-10-29 |publisher=NBC News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The once and future city |first=Rena |last=Rossner |url=http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=11339 |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |date=January 26, 2006|access-date=November 15, 2009 |quote=They have also discovered thousands of fish bones that, together with the bullae were found in an area that Reich and Shukran believe to be the Shiloah Pool, used as a ritual bath for the Temple Mount, and a tiled road which ends at the pool and has its origins near the Temple Mount. Ostensibly, this is the road that worshippers used to go back and forth between the Shiloah Pool and the Temple Mount.}}</ref>

The excavations also revealed that the pool was {{convert|225|ft|abbr=on}} wide, and that steps existed on at least three sides of the pool. The pool is not perfectly rectangular, but a soft [[trapezoid]]. There are three sets of five steps, two leading to a platform, before the bottom is reached, and it has been suggested that the steps were designed to accommodate various water levels. The pool is stone-lined, but underneath, there is evidence of an earlier version that was merely plastered (to help it retain water). Coins from the reign of [[Alexander Jannaeus]] were found embedded in the plaster lining of the pool, and therefore provide a secure earliest date for the pool's (re-)construction.

For almost two decades after the initial discovery, most of the pool remained unexcavated, as the land above was owned by a nearby [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem|Greek Orthodox church]] and was occupied by an orchard known as the [[King's Garden (Jerusalem)|King's Garden]] (compare {{Bibleverse||Nehemiah|3:15|HE}}). In late December 2022, Israeli police evicted the tenants and turned ownership of the plot over to the Ir David Foundation. Several months later, the [[Israel Antiquities Authority]] commenced a complete excavation of this plot in hopes of uncovering the remaining portion of the pool. The excavations surprised archaeologists by uncovering scant additional remains from the pool, with the vast majority of the newly excavated plot revealing no significant archaeological findings at all.<ref name="Hasson">{{cite news |last1=Hasson |first1=Nir |title=Israel Razed the Last Orchard in Silwan in Search of Siloam Pool. It Still Can't Be Found |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-04-28/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/israel-razed-the-last-orchard-in-silwan-in-search-of-siloam-pool-it-still-cant-be-found/00000187-c6d0-d9b4-abaf-eefe23910000 |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=Haaretz |date=28 April 2023}}</ref>

===Earlier excavations===
Archaeologists excavating the site around the Pool of Siloam in the 1880s have noted that there was a stairway of 34 rock-hewn steps to the west of the Pool of Siloam leading up from a court in front of the Pool of Siloam.<ref name="QuarterlyStatement1897">{{cite journal |last=Bliss |first=F. J. |author-link1=F.J. Bliss |year=1897 |title=Eleventh Report of the Excavations at Jerusalem |url=https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme29pale/page/n3/mode/2up |journal=Quarterly Statement – Palestine Exploration Fund |volume=29 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/quarterlystateme29pale/page/n27/mode/2up 11], 13}}</ref> The breadth of the steps varies from {{convert|27|ft|abbr=on}} at the top to {{convert|22|ft|abbr=on}} at the bottom.<ref name="QuarterlyStatement1897"/>

The remnants of an ancient wall dating to the [[Bronze Age]] were unearthed near the older Pool of Siloam, known also as the "Lower Pool," and locally as ''Birket al-Ḥamrah'', during the excavations conducted by [[Frederick J. Bliss|F. J. Bliss]] and A. C. Dickie (1894–1897).<ref name="Yitzhaki">{{cite book |last=Barkay |first=Gabriel |author-link=Gabriel Barkay |contribution=City of David (עיר דוד) |title=Israel Guide – Jerusalem (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) |editor=Chaim Rubenstein |publisher=Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |year=1980 |volume=10 |location=Jerusalem, Israel |pages=166–167 |language=he |oclc=745203905 }}</ref> At the "Lower Pool" of Siloam there was a [[weir]] (levee), used to raise the level of water upstream or to regulate its flow.<ref name="Yitzhaki"/> [[Conrad Schick]]'s research in connection with a partially rock-hewn aqueduct related to the water system of Siloam has led researchers to conclude that the Lower Pool, ''Birket al-Ḥamrah'', received water directly from the "Fountain of the Virgin" ([[Gihon Spring]]) at some period and which Schick places prior to the completion of the Siloam Tunnel.<ref>{{cite journal |last=PEF |author-link=Palestine Exploration Fund |title=The Herodian Temple, According to the Treatise Middoth and Flavius Josephus |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |date=1886|volume=18|issue=2|pages=92–113 |doi=10.1179/peq.1886.18.2.92}}</ref><ref>cf. {{cite book |author-last=Dalman|author-first=Gustaf |author-link=Gustaf Dalman |title=Work and Customs in Palestine, volume II |publisher=Dar Al Nasher |location=Ramallah|year=2020 |volume=2 (Agriculture) |language=en |translator=Robert Schick |editor=Nadia Abdulhadi-Sukhtian |page=280 |isbn=978-9950-385-84-9}}, who writes that the [[King's Garden (Jerusalem)|King's Garden]] was irrigated originally through a canal with side openings, which led the water of the [[Gihon spring]] at the edge of the valley to the south, until [[Hezekiah's Tunnel]] created a more southern exit for the water, from which the garden could then be irrigated.</ref>