Part of an ancient aqueduct built more than 2,000 years ago to transport water into the city of Jerusalem was uncovered during a recent construction project, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. 
 
 A section of the so-called Lower Aqueduct was discovered in the modern-day neighborhood of Umm Tuba, in East Jerusalem, during efforts to construct a new sewer line. The Lower Aqueduct was originally built more than 2,000 years ago by kings in the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled Judea and its surrounding regions from about 140 B.C. to 37 B.C., and preceded King Herod the Great. 
 
 The sprawling, 13-mile-long (21 kilometers) aqueduct carried water to the capital, and "operated intermittently until about 100 years ago," Ya'akov Billig, director of the aqueduct excavation with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said in a statement. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds] 
 
 The Lower Aqueduct fed from the En Eitam spring, which is located near three ancient reservoirs known as Solomon's Pools that are about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Bethlehem. As water passed through the channel, it flowed down a gentle slope to Jerusalem, passing through the modern-day neighborhoods of Umm Tuba, Sur Bahar, East Talpiot and Abu Tor, according to the IAA. 
 
 "At first, the water was conveyed inside an open channel, and about 500 years ago, during the Ottoman period, a terra cotta pipe was installed inside the channel in order to better protect the water," Billig said. 
 
 For nearly 2,000 years, the Lower Aqueduct remained one of Jerusalem's principal sources of water, IAA officials said, which is why city rulers kept the structure so well preserved. About 100 years ago, the channel was replaced by an electrically operated water-distribution system. 
 
 The Umm Tuba section of the aqueduct was uncovered by workers at Gihon Company Ltd., who are constructing the new sewer line. Archaeologists at the IAA conducted an excavation of the site following its discovery, but the remains have since been covered up again to preserve the structure and prevent any damage, agency officials said. 
 
 Other sections of the extensive aqueduct have been uncovered in the past, including in the Armon Ha-Natziv tunnels in the City of David, on the Sherover promenade in southern Jerusalem and around the Sultan's Pool along the west side of Mount Zion in Jerusalem, IAA officials said. 
 
 Follow Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. ||||| A section of Jerusalem’s Lower Aqueduct, which brought water to Jerusalem more than two millennia ago, was uncovered in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Umm Tuba during the construction of a new sewer line, it was announced Thursday. 
 
 The ancient aqueduct was discovered during digging last month by the Gihon Water Company, which was laying new pipes to modernize the sewer system in the Umm Tuba and Sur Baher neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. 
 
 The Israel Antiquities Authority excavated the area after the aqueduct was found. 
 
 “The Lower Aqueduct to Jerusalem, which the Hasmonean kings constructed more than 2,000 years ago in order to provide water to Jerusalem, operated intermittently until about one hundred years ago,” said Ya’akov Billig, the director of the excavation. 
 
 According to Billig, the aqueduct begins at the Ein Eitam spring near Solomon’s Pools south of Bethlehem and stretches 21 kilometers to Jerusalem. “Despite its length, it flows along a very gentle downward slope whereby the water level falls just one meter per kilometer of distance. At first, the water was conveyed inside an open channel, and about 500 years ago, during the Ottoman period, a terra cotta pipe was installed inside the channel in order to better protect the water.” 
 
 Billig added that while the aqueduct’s route went through uninhabited areas when it was first built, it now runs through several populated areas, including Umm Tuba, East Talpiot and Abu Tor, due to Jerusalem’s expansion. 
 
 Since the ancient aqueduct was one of Jerusalem’s most important water sources, the city’s rulers carefully preserved it until an electrically operated water system replaced it roughly a century ago. Now that its importance is mainly historical, Billig said, the Israel Antiquities Authority is taking steps to preserve parts of the aqueduct, study them and make them accessible to the public. 
 
 The sections of the aqueduct in Umm Tuba were covered up once more after the Antiquities Authority’s study, but other sections are accessible to the public in other areas in Jerusalem, such as the water tunnel in Armon Hanatziv and near the Sultan’s Pool. ||||| After a century of searching, archaeologists say they have found the remnants of an ancient Greek fortress once a center of power in Jerusalem and a stronghold used to hold off a Jewish rebellion celebrated in the scriptural Book of the Maccabees. 
 
 Researchers have long debated over the location of the Acra, built more than 2,000 years ago by Antiochus Epiphanes, king of the Hellenized Seleucid Empire. Many asserted it stood in what is now Jerusalem’s walled Old City, at spots like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher or by the hilltop where two Jewish temples once towered and which now houses the Al Aqsa mosque compound. 
 
 But the remains unearthed by the Israel Antiquities Authority and made public on Tuesday are outside the walls, overlooking a valley to the south, an area where archaeologists say Jerusalem construction was concentrated under the biblical King David. 
 
 Antiochus, who lived from 215-164 BC, chose the spot for the Acra in order to control the city and monitor activity in the Jewish temple, said Doron Ben-Ami, who led the excavation. 
 
 With an estimated length of up to 250 meters and 60 meters in width, it would have dominated the countryside. 
 
 Beneath what a decade ago was a paved parking lot, Ben-Ami's team sifted through an artificial hill made of layers of earth left behind by successive cultures. 
 
 In one area they uncovered stones from a section of a massive wall, the base of a tower and a sloping defensive embankment that nearby artifacts like coins and wine jug handles suggest date to the period of Antiochus. 
 
 Lead sling stones and bronze arrowheads from the period were also found, perhaps left over from battles between pro-Greek forces and Jewish rebels trying to take over the fortress. 
 
 “This is a rare example of how rocks, coins and dirt can come together in a single archaeological story that addresses specific historical realities from the city of Jerusalem,” Ben-Ami said. 
 
 The Acra's location was referred to vaguely in at least two ancient texts – the Book of Maccabees, which tells of the rebellion, and a written record by historian Josephus Flavius. 
 
 Historians tell how the rebels, led by Judas Maccabeus, took back Jerusalem from the Greeks, a victory marked in the Jewish festival Hannukah. But the Acra held out until rebels under Judas’s brother, Simon, later lay siege and forced its surrender. 
 
 [Reuters]
– Workers constructing a sewer line in East Jerusalem last month discovered a 2,000-year-old water-supply system that—think about this—worked fairly well until the last century, LiveScience reports. The 13-mile long Lower Aqueduct, which was fed by a spring south of Bethlehem and runs through four modern-day Jerusalem neighborhoods, was built by kings governing Judea and environs from roughly 140 BC to 37 BC. City rulers kept it up over the years, covering the open channel with terra cotta pipe about 500 years ago. It remained a major water-supply source until an electrical water distribution system replaced it roughly 100 years ago, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The IAA says it will cover part of the aqueduct "for the sake of future generations" and expose parts for access by the general public, Discovery reports. Meanwhile, archaeologists are marveling: "The aqueduct begins at the ‘En ‘Eitam spring, near Solomon’s Pools south of Bethlehem," says IAA Director Ya'akov Billig. "Despite its length, it flows along a very gentle downward slope whereby the water level falls just one meter per kilometer of distance." The original designers look pretty smart, too, having built the aqueduct in uninhabited areas where Jerusalem neighborhoods now exist, the Times of Israel notes. Other parts of the aqueduct system have been found before, including tunnels in the City of David and ones near the Sultan's Pool beside Mount Zion in Jerusalem.