Footnote 4 – How They Met: Geology Solves Long-Standing Mystery of Hezekiah’s Tunnelers

Meleke and Mizzi Ahmar are Arabic words originating in the local jargon of stonemasons. They relate to color, the ease with which the stone can be quarried and dressed and to other attributes as building stones. Meleke means king or royal stone. All the monumental tombs in Jerusalem were dug in this formation, so this may be the source of its name. Mizzi means hard and ahmar means red.