It was first hewn in the Middle Bronze Age (2000–1550 BCE) and then expanded in late monarchic times, in the eighth century BCE. With such a long history, this find cannot prove that the biblical story of David’s conquest of Jerusalem reflects a historical reality, but rather could be a folktale that developed in later periods to explain the origin of the system of shafts and tunnels on the eastern slope of the ridge. The ending of the biblical story with the words “Therefore it is said” seems to support this explanation of a folk etiology.
