Melchizedek's Temple? or Highway of the Fuller's Field?

19th century engraving. Fullers washing cloth at Beni Hassan; Tomb art taken from The Ancient Egyptians, 1854.

Qumran (1970-71). Fr. Roland de Vaux demonstrating how clothing was laundered at Qumran, where items were washed and patted dry on flat stone, as it was done in rural France during his childhood. He is kneeling in Locus 52. (Identifier: Davies_Slide_16; © Philip R. Davies estate, re-use permitted with citation: From the collection of Professor Philip Davies, Emeritus Professor at the University of Sheffield).
Whether it be Qumran in the first century, or the City of David in the Iron Age, areas of smooth limestone may have been utilized for the "fulling," or whitening of clothes.

On December 7, 2011, an article titled, “Strange Markings Puzzle City of David Archaeologists” appeared in the Bible History Daily, of the Biblical Archaeology Society.

“Excavations near the Gihon Spring in Jerusalem’s City of David have uncovered three strange V-shaped markings that have archaeologists completely stumped. “The markings are very strange, and very intriguing. I’ve never seen anything like them,” said Eli Shukron, of the two directors of the ongoing excavation. Shukron speculates the markings may have helped support some kind of wooden structure within the room, although its equally possible they could have had some either ritual or purely mundane function” (Biblical Archaeology Society Staff, Bible and archaeology news, December 7, 2011).

The next day, archaeologist Ronnie Reich was interviewed by the Jerusalem Post, where he stated, "There is a pointer to what the writing on the floor is all about in the form of a dozen or so weights used to hold down threads from a loom, which were discovered in an adjacent room. It’s possible that these Vs were used to hold upright vertical looms,’ Reich said, admitting that that would be a disappointingly prosaic solution to the mystery. ‘You always have to look for the simple explanation and not rush into something dramatic" (David Rosenberg, THE JERUSALEM POST, Faced with enigmatic ‘V’s, archaeologists turn to Facebook, December 8, 2011).
Loom weights were also uncovered in the nearby Warren's shaft system:

According to the IAA, "Loom weights and a beaten chalk floor were covered with a thick layer of small stone chips that derived from the quarrying of a hard bedrock layer, when the Warren's Shaft system was made deeper. The loom weights indicated that at the end of Iron Age II the place ceased to be used as a public underground water system and was taken over by private individuals, who were engaged in weaving."

Months after the strange markings were found on level limestone near the Gihon Spring site, a worldwide invitation was put out by archeologists and the City of David Foundation to help solve the mystery of what they might be:

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY – What Are These Strange Markings Found Near Jerusalem’s Gihon Spring?

“Last December, excavations near the Gihon Spring in the City of David, Jerusalem, uncovered three strange V-shaped markings…. Rather than remaining secretive and aloof about the puzzling discovery near the Gihon Spring, the archaeologists and the City of David Foundation issued a press release with a rare request to the public for help in identifying these mysterious carvings from the City of David.

The response was overwhelming. Tens of thousands of people took to Facebook and reposted on other social media outlets to offer their suggestions about what the Gihon Spring markings could be. … But the code still hasn’t been cracked” (Biblical Archaeology Society Staff, Bible and archaeology news, March 16, 2012).

I was one of the “tens of thousands of people” who offered a suggestion as to what the Gihon Spring markings could be:
Comments – March 21, 2012
Bud Chrysler says: “…These carvings, located on a smooth limestone floor, surrounded by stone benches, located near a water supply and dating to the Iron Age (according to the pottery record), may be the first archaeological evidence of the fullers in Jerusalem.” (BIBLE HISTORY DAILY, What Are These Strange Markings Found Near Jerusalem’s Gihon Spring? Biblical Archaeology Society Staff, March 16, 2012).

If they had listened to me then, there would be no need for this article. For more than ten years I have held my peace, but the recent headlines about “Melchizedek's Temple” in the City of David became the straw that broke this camel’s back. I now humbly resubmit my hypothesis.
According to the Bible (II Kings 18:17-18), the Assyrians – Tartan, Rabsaris and Rabshakeh called to the king (Hezekiah) from where they stood “by the conduit of the upper pool.” When they called to king Hezekiah, Eliakim, which was over the household, came out to them. From this, we can conclude that the king’s house must have been within shouting distance from the area of the conduit of the upper pool, which, we are told, was “in the highway of the fuller’s field.”

“The trade of the fullers, so far as it is mentioned in Scripture, appears to have consisted chiefly in cleansing garments and whitening them. The process of fulling or cleansing clothes consisted in treading or stamping on the garments with the feet or with bats in tubs of water, in which some alkaline substance answering the purpose of soap had been dissolved. The trade of the fullers, as causing offensive smells, and also as requiring space for drying clothes, appears to have been carried on at Jerusalem outside the city” (Smith's Bible Dictionary).

The Stepped-Stone Structure, located near the top of the slope, above the Gihon Spring. So massive an edifice, it is generally agreed, must have supported an imposing structure above it – possibly the king’s house. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

Figure 1. General area under discussion

There were people sitting on the wall (Kathleen Kenyon's Wall NA?) who were close enough to hear the Assyrians as they spoke with Eliakim, Shebna and Joah (II Kings 18:26-29). Kenyon found a casemate wall at the top of the slope, attached from the north to the Stepped-Stone Structure; but the wall referred to in II Kings 18:26-27 was most likely Hezekiah’s Mid-Slope Wall (Kenyon's Wall NA) which, at that point, protected the entrance to the Warren’s Shaft Installation.

Hezekiah’s Mid-Slope Wall - Kenyon's Wall NA (right). A small area of bedrock is visible at center. Facing south. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

Closeup of Hezekiah’s Mid-Slope Wall - Kenyon's Wall NA (right). Boulders of the Jebusite Wall - Kenyon's Wall NB are seen at the bottom, with area of bedrock visible at center. The room with the “mysterious Vs” cut into the smooth limestone floor would later be found near this location, beneath the steps. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

Hezekiah’s mid-slope wall (Kenyon's Wall NA) during excavation above the Gihon Spring. Its width at this point is 5 meters (16.4 feet); plenty of room for people to sit on it. Notice the area of bedrock visible at bottom left. Photo by Kathleen Kenyon.

Corner of Jebusite wall (Kenyon's Wall NB) at bottom. Hezekiah's Mid-Slope Wall (Kenyon's Wall NA) on the left. Facing north. Notice the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount in the distance. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

Closeup of corner of Jebusite Wall (Kenyon's Wall NB), with Hezekiah's wall (Kenyon's Wall NA) on the left. The smaller stones on the upper-left, are part of modern terrace walls used for support. A small section of bedrock is visible to the left of center. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

The northeastern part of the City of David (facing west). The entrance to the Warren’s Shaft Installation occupies the space between the two large trees at the top of the angled stairway. Hezekiah’s Mid-slope Wall (Kenyon's Wall NA) lies just behind the building in the center of the photograph. To the left of the building in the center is the location of the Structure with the rooms of smooth limestone floors. The Stepped-Stone Structure is visible under the tree line in the upper right. The Gihon Spring (bottom left-of-center, is located under double-arched windows). Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

Cave entrance to the Gihon Spring, at the bottom of the slope, outside of the protection of the Mid-Slope Wall. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

Vaulted entrance to the Warren’s Shaft Installation. Warren’s Shaft exists underground between the Gihon Spring and the Stepped-Stone Structure. Photo: Bud Chrysler 1984.

“For efficient utilization of the Gihon’s waters the ancient inhabitants constructed at various times three water supply systems, today known as the Warren’s Shaft Installation, the Siloam Channel and Hezekiah’s Tunnel. The Siloam Channel carried artificially raised spring water southward alongside the right bank of the Kidron Valley; the other two systems are entirely subterranean. …II Chronicles 32:4 describes the sealing of the Gihon’s inlet into the Siloam Channel and the channel’s outlets onto the right slope of the Kidron Valley” (Dan Gill, Qedem 35, Excavations at the City of David 1978-1985, Vol. IV, 1996, pp. 1, 25).

Shiloh’s Area A2 (facing north). Mohammad Abdullah Awad, Siloam Antiquities Shop owner, poses by one of the openings of the Siloam Channel at the southern end of the City of David. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

“Channel II took the water from the Gihon Spring to the junction of the Central and Kidron Valleys. …It is the author’s opinion that the need for Channel IV arose when Hezekiah’s Tunnel went into operation and Channel II, Jerusalem’s early irrigation system, went out of use. One of the objectives of the designers of Hezekiah’s Tunnel was presumably to conceal the source of the Gihon Spring. Channel II was put out of use because its continued functioning would have given away the location of the spring” (Alon De Groot, Qedem 33, Excavations at the City of David 1978-1985, Vol. III, 1992, pp. 20-21).

II Chronicles 32:30 – This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

Southern end of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, where the water empties on the west side of the city, thereby filling the Siloam Pool. Photo: Bud Chrysler, 1984.

The Highway of the Fuller’s Field
(715 B.C.) Isaiah 7:3 – Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.

The meeting between Isaiah, Shearjashub and King Ahaz occurred around 715 B.C. The ‘conduit,’ mentioned in Isaiah 7:3, was the Siloam Channel – an early-first-millennium water system which began near the source of the Gihon Spring in the northeastern part of the City of David and emptied at the southeastern end of the City of David. The Siloam Channel was superseded by Hezekiah’s Tunnel which emptied on the southwestern end.
The Bible informs us of a second meeting by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the fuller's field:
(701 B.C.) Isaiah 36:2-3 – And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.

Conclusion
The king’s house was situated on top of the slope, above the Stepped-Stone Structure. The “end of the conduit of the upper pool,” and source of the Gihon Spring, is located at the bottom of the slope, below the Stepped-Stone Structure. The Assyrians probably called to the king from the mid-point between the king’s house and the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. According to II Kings 18:26-27, people were situated on top of a wall near enough to overhear the Assyrians as they spoke to Eliakim. Archaeologists have discovered a wall (Kenyon's Wall NA) and an enigmatic structure at this very location. The structure, unearthed under the direction of archaeologist Eli Shukron, covers an area of approximately 220 square meters and contains eight smoothed-limestone chambers, each with different installations.

"The exposed rooms were cut into bedrock on the eastern slope of the City of David; the western side of the complex is higher than the eastern one, following the natural slope of the bedrock. Rooms 1−7 were cut into the same north–south rock step and were entered from the east" (Shukron, Eli; Freud, Liora; Roth, Helena; Avisar, Reli; and Bocher, Efrat (2024) "Evidence of Worship in the Rock-Cut Rooms on the Eastern Slope of the City of David, Jerusalem," 'Atiqot: Vol. 116, Article 5).

One room included a carved installation with a drainage channel.
Another room’s smooth limestone floor displayed mysterious V-shaped carving marks, the purpose of which remains unclear. May I offer a 'disappointingly prosaic solution to the mystery' and suggest a 'purely mundane function'?