Scholars date the digging of this underground water conduit to the 9th or 10th century BCE. It is accessed by a descending tunnel which terminates in a vertical shaft the bottom of which is at the level of the Gihon Spring. Using this system, residents of ancient Jerusalem could obtain water during periods of siege or war without having to venture outside the city wall. The shaft bears the name of its 19th-century discoverer, the British scholar Charles Warren. 
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