Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist, Yehiel Zelinger, stands alongside a Mameluke-era bridge and aqueduct outside Jerusalem's Old City walls. Construction workers uncovered the site two-weeks ago, while laying pipe for new water lines. The structure was built on the ruins of similar water courses that brought water from springs in Bethlehem to Jerusalem's residents since antiquity. (May 11, 2010) (Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved)
By Dave Bender
JERUSALEM, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) on Tuesday announced the discovery of segments of an arched bridge and aqueduct at an excavation site outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Yehiel Zelinger, the IAA archaeologist responsible for the dig, termed the find "spectacular."
He said the bridge was originally part of an ancient aqueduct that brought water to the Temple Mount during the Second Temple period (between 536 BC and 70 AD), when an estimated number of 50,000 Jews returned from the Babylonian exile to build the Second Temple on the site of the destroyed First Temple.
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Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist, Yehiel Zelinger, examines an 1898 topographic map by German archaeologist Konrad Schick of the area outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Water company construction workers there uncovered a Mameluke-era bridge and aqueduct two-weeks ago. The structure was built on the ruins of similar water courses that brought water from springs in Bethlehem to Jerusalem's residents since antiquity. (May 11, 2010) (Dave Bender - All Rights Reserved)
