| | | Jericho (Arabic أريحا , Hebrew ירחו Yĕriychow "city of the moon" from the masculine noun: ירח yareach "moon" ) - is a town in the West Bank, Palestine near the Jordan River. The first mention of Jericho in the Bible is from Numbers 22: 1 Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. 2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3 And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. -Numbers 22:1-3 Jericho has a population of approximately 19,000. It is believed by some to be the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the world. The current mayor of Jericho is Hassan Saleh. The present city was captured by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967. It was the first city handed over to Palestinian Authority control in 1994, in accordance with the Oslo accords. After a period of Israeli readministration, it was returned to the Palestinian Authority on 16 March 2005. | Jericho prison incident On March 14, 2006, the Israel Defense Forces took captive six inmates from a Jericho prison following a 10-hour siege. The IDF said the reason for taking the prisoners, who were wanted for participation in the assassination of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, was to keep them from being released. Both sides of the siege were armed and at least two people were killed and 35 wounded in the incident. Synagogue An ancient synagogue was discovered in Jericho in 1936. It has been controlled by Israel since the Six Day War, but after the Oslo Accords and especially the Al Aqsa Intifada it has been a source of conflict (see also The First Intifada). Archaeology Three separate settlements have existed at or near the current location for more than 11,000 years. The position is on an east-west route north of the Dead Sea. |  Mount Quarantania is a mountain approximately 366 m (1 200 feet) high, located about 11 km (7 miles) north-west of the West Bank town of Jericho. Quarantania is "a limestone peak on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho". It is traditionally accepted by Christians to be the scene of the temptation of Christ, and is mentioned in Matt. 4:8.
(larger image) | The first archaeological excavations of the site were made by Charles Warren in 1868. Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger excavated Tell es-Sultan and Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq between 1907-1909 and in 1911. John Garstang excavated between 1930 and 1936. Extensive investigations using more modern techniques were made by Kathleen Kenyon between 1952 and 1958. Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolo Marchetti conducted a limited excavation in 1997. Later that same year, Dr. Bryant Wood also made a visit to the site to verify the findings of the earlier 1997 team. Dr Bryant Wood is an internationally recognised authority on the archaeology of Jericho. He is director of the Associates for Biblical Research, and also director of the Kh. el-Maqatir Excavations in Israel. | Dr. Wood states: "Jericho was once thought to be a ‘Bible problem’ because of the seeming disagreement between the archaeology and the Bible. When the archaeology is correctly interpreted, however, just the opposite is the case. The archaeological evidence supports the historical accuracy of the biblical account in every detail. Every aspect of the story that could possibly be verified by the findings of archaeology is, in fact, verified." For more information on archaeology and the Bible, or to go on a dig in Israel with Dr Wood, contact: the Associates for Biblical Research, 31 East Frederick Street., Suite 468, Walkersville MD 21793-82324. |  Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking modern Jericho.
(larger image) | 2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in." -Joshua 6:2-5 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
-Hebrews 11:30 |  Aerial view of the archaeological site of Jericho, Tell es-Sultan
(larger image)Tell es-Sultan The earliest settlement was located at the present-day Tell es-Sultan (or Tell Sultan), a couple of kilometers from the current city. In Arabic, tell means "mound" -- consecutive layers of habitation built up a mound over time, as is common for ancient settlements in the Middle East and Anatolia. Jericho is the type site of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPN A) and B. The habitation has been classed into several phases: |  Dwelling foundations unearthed at
Tell es-Sultan in Jericho. Photo taken: March 9, 2006.
(larger image) PPN A Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, 8350 BC to 7370 BC. Sometimes called Sultanien. A 40,000 square metre settlement surrounded by a stone wall, with a stone tower in the centre of one wall. Round mud-brick houses. Use of domesticated emmer wheat, barley and pulses and hunting of wild animals. PPN B Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, 7220 BC to 5850 BC (but carbon-14-dates are few and early). Expanded range of domesticated plants. Possible domestication of sheep. Apparent cult involving the preservation of human skulls, with facial features reconstructed from plaster and eyes set with shells in some cases. After the PPN A settlement-phase there was a settlement hiatus of several centuries, then the PPN B settlement was founded on the eroded surface of the tell. The architecture consisted of rectilinear buildings made of mudbricks on stone foundations. The mudbricks were loaf-shaped with deep thumb prints to facilitate bounding. No building has been excavated in its entirety. Normally, several rooms cluster around a central courtyard. There is one big room (6.5 x 4 m and 7 x 3 m) with internal divisions, the rest are small, presumably used for storage. The rooms have red or pinkish terrazzo-floors made of lime. Some impressions of mats made of reeds or rushes have been preserved. The courtyards have clay floors. Kathleen Kenyon interpreted one building as a shrine. It contained a niche in the wall. A chipped pillar of volcanic stone that was found nearby might have fit into this niche. The dead were buried under the floors or in the rubble fill of abandoned buildings. There are several collective burials, not all the skeletons are completely articulated, which may point to a time of exposure before burial. A skull cache contained seven skulls. The jaws were removed, the face covered with plaster, cowries were used for eyes. All in all, ten skulls were found. Modelled skulls were found in Tell Ramad (see Damascus) and Beisamoun as well. Other finds: - Flints: arrowheads (tanged or side-notched), finely denticulated sickle-blades, burins, scrapers, a few tranchet axes. 1% obsidian, Ciftlik and green obsidian from unknown source.
- ground stone: querns, hammerstones, a few ground-stone axes made of greenstone. Dishes and bowls carved from soft limestone. Spindle whorls made of stone and maybe loom weights.
- Bone Tools: Spatulae and drills
- stylised anthropomorphic plaster figures, almost life-size
- Anthropomorphic and theriomorphic clay figurines
- shell and malachite beads
Pottery Neolithic A and B Late 4th millennium BC. Jericho was occupied during Neolithic 2 and the general character of the remains on the site link it culturally with Neolithic 2 sites in the West Syrian and Middle Euphrates groups. There are the rectilinear mud-brick buildings and plaster floors. Bronze age Walls of Jericho The Biblical account of the destruction of Jericho is found in the Book of Joshua. The Bible describes the destruction as having proceeded from the actions of Joshua, Moses' successor. The exodus is usually dated to the 13th century BC (based on Ussherian calculation) according to interpretation of archeological evidence from the Merneptah Stele followed by new settlements in the next century. At that time the Pharaoh of Egypt would be Ramses II. Alternatively, the exodus is dated to the 15th century BC according to a prevailing Christian interpretation of biblical chronology, which is synchronized with several ancient calendars with astronomical observation. At that time the Pharaoh would be Thutmose III (1490-1430). A destruction of Jericho's walls dates archeologically to around 1550 BC in the 16th century BC at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, by a siege or an earthquake in the context of a burn layer, called City IV destruction. Opinions differ as to whether they are the walls referred to in the Bible. According to one biblical chronology, the Israelites destroyed Jericho after its walls fell out around 1407 BC at the end of the 15th century. Originally, John Garstang's excavation in the 1930s dated Jericho's destruction to around 1400 BC, in confirmation, but like much early biblical archaeology, his work became criticised for using the Bible to interpret the evidence rather than letting the facts on the ground draw their own conclusions. Kathleen Kenyon's excavation in the 1950s redated it to around 1550 BC, a date that most archeologists support. In 1990, Bryant Wood critiqued Kenyon's work after her field notes became fully available. Observing ambiguities and relying on the only available carbon dating of the burn layer, which yielded a date of 1410 BC plus or minus 40 years, Wood dated the destruction to this carbon dating, confirming Garstang and the biblical chronology. Unfortunately, this carbon date was itself the result of faulty calibration. In 1995, Hendrik J. Bruins and Johannes van der Plicht used high-precision radiocarbon dating for eighteen samples from Jericho, including six samples of charred cereal grains from the burn layer, and overall dated the destruction to an average 1562 BC plus or minus 38 years.(Radiocarbon Vol. 37, Number 2, 1995.) Kenyon's date of around 1550 BC is more secure than ever. Notably, many other Canaanite cities were destroyed around this time. Scholars who link these walls to the biblical account must explain how the Israelites arrived around 1550 BC but settled four centuries later and devise a new biblical chronology that corresponds. The current opinion of some archaeologists is in contradiction to the biblical account. The widespread destructions of the 16th century BC are often linked with the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt around this time. Interestingly, the 1st-century historian Josephus, in Against Apion, identified the Exodus of Israelites according to the Bible as the Expulsion of the Hyksos according to the Egyptian texts. Nevertheless, Josephus's historical inaccuracies should be considered and his word not taken as law. A few scholars follow the controversial new chronology of David Rohl, which postulates that the entire mainstream Egyptian chronology is 300 years misplaced; with the conseqence that, among other things, the exodus would be dated to the 16th or 17th century BC, and hence the archaeological record on Jericho would be much more aligned with the biblical account. Despite this, a number of Christians, most prominently the respected Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen, have vehemently attacked Rohl's chronology, since it introduces a number of other problems and issues (such as identifying the biblical Shishak as Ramses II, rather than the far more obviously named Shoshenq). The opinion of some archaeologists is in stark contradiction to the biblical account. However, according to the article Dating in Archaeology: Challenges to Biblical Credibility by Garry K. Brantley: “Biblical historical data are accurate to an extent far surpassing the ideas of any modern critical students, who have consistently tended to err on the side of hypercriticism” (1949, Albright, p. 229). “Archaeologists now generally agree that their discoveries..have produced a new consensus about the formation of ancient Israel that contradicts significant parts of the biblical version” (Strauss, 1988). These statements represent the conflicting messages that characterize the field of archaeology. In Albright’s era, archaeologists’ interpretations of field excavations ordinarily corroborated biblical information. It was common for prominent archaeologists such as Nelson Glueck to confidently affirm: “..no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference” (1959, p. 31). More on this article..
In addition, Joseph Blenkinsopp, in his article:The Bible, Archaeology and Politics; or The Empty Land Revisited says: Since its inception with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798, archaeology in the Middle East has always been involved in politics. Nowhere in the region is this more in evidence than in Palestine/Israel, beginning with the preliminary stage of mapping the land and renaming settlements and physical features taken over from the resident Arabs. A major expression of the political ideology underlying this activity has come to be known as ‘the myth of the empty land’. During the Hellenistic period, when interest in ethnic origins was running high, it provided justification for the initial Israelite occupation of and exclusive claim on the land. In this form, the myth appears to be a retrojection of the land claims of the dominant Judaeo-Babylonian elite during the early Persian period reflected in certain biblical texts. An examination of some recent writing on the archaeology of the region during the Neo-Babylonian period suggests that the myth still exerts its influence.
And, Dr. Bryant Wood, Director of the Associates for Biblical Research and one of the leading experts on the archaeology of Jericho, has stated: "It matters little what the Italian archaeologists did not find in their month-long dig. The evidence is already in. Three major expeditions to the site over the past 90 years uncovered abundant evidence to support the Biblical account." "The Italian excavation actually uncovered most of the critical evidence relating to the Biblical story. But even more exciting is the fact that all the evidence from the earlier digs has disappeared over time. We only have records, drawing and photos. But the Italians uncovered a completely new section of the wall which we did not know still existed.."
(above Bryant Wood quote ©www.ChristianAnswers.Net) Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq A later settlement spanned the Hellenistic, New Testament, and Islamic periods, leaving mounds located at Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq, 2 km west of modern er-Riha. It is suspected that this settlement was very violent. Biblical references Jericho is mentioned in the Jewish Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament), over 70 times. Here are some examples: | - Prior to Moses' death, God is described as showing him the Promised Land in the Book of Deuteronomy with Jericho as a point of reference: "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, even Gilead as far as Dan" (Deuteronomy 34:1).
|  The walls of Jericho crumble as the priest blows his horn in this illustration from a 14th century Icelandic manuscript.
(larger image) | - The Book of Joshua describes the famous siege of Jericho, claiming that it was circled seven times by the ancient Children of Israel until its walls came tumbling down, after which Joshua cursed the city: "And Joshua charged the people with an oath at that time, saying: 'Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city, even Jericho; with the loss of his first-born shall he lay the foundation thereof, and with the loss of his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it'". (Joshua 6:26).
- The Book of Jeremiah describes the end of the Judean king Zedekiah when he is captured in the area of Jericho: "But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he gave judgment upon him." (Jeremiah 39:5).
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