Discovered by Charles Warren in his investigations of the city in the 1860s, this underground tunnel system was used to access the Jerusalem’s supply of water (the Gihon Spring) from inside the safety of the city walls as far back as the 8th century BC.
The original inhabitants of Jerusalem did not live on the site of today’s Old City, but on a narrow ridge descending from the present Temple Mount, the area King David established his capital and pitched a tent to house the Ark of the Covenant.