Sorry for such a neophyte question, but what is that thick black overhead cable with the hundreds of twisted pairs in it called?

I remember when I was a kid, I found a four foot piece of it, and the hide on that thing was tougher than nails and it was like skinning a rhinoceros to remove it... then only to find a sheath of lead, followed by plastic like sheeting then the wires themselves. I remember how moldy smelling the wires were when I finally got to them. The other unusual thing was that on one end of this thing, there was a fitting that almost looked like a plumbing fitting with a cap on it that was soldered to the lead sheath.

I know that this was a phone cable, but I am curious what this stuff is called.

Thanks,

Joe

Real comms took 200lb teletypes, hand keys, sounders, operators and cranked phones!