Jericho
One of the world's oldest towns, with a Neolithic tower, and the city whose walls fall in Joshua after the Ark leads the march.
- Location
- Jordan Valley, north of the Dead Sea
- Ancient site
- Tell es-Sultan, beside the spring 'Ain es-Sultan
- Earliest settlement
- Permanent Neolithic town, 9th–8th millennium BCE
- Famous feature
- Neolithic stone tower and wall
- Excavated by
- John Garstang (1930s); Kathleen Kenyon (1952–58)
- Status
- UNESCO World Heritage, Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan (2023)
What is Jericho known for?
Tell es-Sultan, the mound of ancient Jericho in the Jordan Valley, holds 29 phases of occupation beside a perennial spring. In the 9th and 8th millennia BCE it was already a sizeable permanent settlement with a stone wall and a massive round tower, among the oldest monumental structures known. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.
In the Book of Joshua, the Israelites carry the Ark of the Covenant around Jericho for seven days, priests blow trumpets, and the walls fall down. Kathleen Kenyon's excavations in the 1950s concluded that the city had been destroyed around 1550 BCE and was little occupied in the period usually proposed for Joshua. That conclusion is still debated, but most archaeologists do not find a walled city matching the biblical story.
Jericho's real history is remarkable without the miracle: it is one of the clearest records of the human shift to settled life.
The Ark leads the march around Jericho before its walls fall in Joshua 6.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeArk of the Covenant
- PersonJoshua
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 'Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan'Reference
- Joshua 6 (KJV), Bible GatewayPrimary text
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'John Garstang'Reference
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