The inscription was discovered in 1880 by a boy
who was bathing in the waters of the Gihon Spring, and was studied by
Conrad Schick, one of the first explorers of Jerusalem.
Engraved in the rock, the inscription describes the meeting of the
two groups of hewers who had begun digging from opposite ends of the
tunnel. "The tunneling was completed... While the hewers wielded
the ax, each man toward his fellow... there was heard a man's voice
calling to his fellow... the hewers hacked each toward the other, ax
against ax, and the water flowed from the spring to the pool, a
distance of 1,200 cubits..."
The inscription is now in the
Istanbul Museum.