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The Ancient Underground Water Systems of Shechem

Surveying a tunnel of Shechem's water systems
Date
Wednesday, 11.11.2026
Time
21:00–22:00
Speaker
Dr. Azriel Yehezkel
Where
Online, on Google Meet

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About the lecture

Shechem, the Roman Flavia Neapolis, is rich in water sources, thanks to its geographic location and its unique hydrogeological conditions. The abundance of Shechem's water sources appears in many historical accounts from the Hellenistic period, the early Muslim period, the Middle Ages, and in travellers' writings of the 19th century CE.

For historical reasons, and because of the local geomorphology, people also exploited part of the water sources underground, probably from the Hellenistic period to the present day: locally, as tunnel springs (nikva), and mainly as part of a complex, branching urban system of drainage and conveyance beneath the ancient city. A minimal estimate of the total length of all the underground systems in the area is about 3.3 km, while a maximal estimate, if most of the separate underground sections are connected, is about 6.6 km. Some of these systems lie about 20 m below the present street level of the city.

Although these water systems have been surveyed underground since 1962, the academic community has not yet been given a clear and complete picture of the different sections: their locations, how certain their existence is, maps, photographs and illustrations. The authors of this article surveyed, mapped and visited Shechem's water systems from 1987 to the present day, documenting about 1,100 m of underground passages in total. In light of these surveys, an orderly summary is presented for the first time of what we know about the courses of the various underground water systems of Shechem and its surroundings, including several sections that have not been published before. As a secondary aim, a review of the chronological and technological aspects of the different water systems is also offered, along with a discussion of how the water systems of Shechem differ from other ancient water systems.