Introduction
Jericho is a city in Israel and apparently adds up as one of the oldest and ancient cities in the history of the world. It is located near River Jordan. The city also doubles as a major archeological site in the world given its relationship with a number of biblical stories as recorded in the books of Joshua and Judges. Jericho was initially occupied by Jordan which then relinquished ownership and authority to Israel. Currently, the city is under Palestinian authority. In the history of archeology, Jordan is remembered as the archeological site for the oldest stone tower in the world as well as the exaction site for Wall of Jericho; a flood protection wall believed to have been built in 8000 BC. Archaeologists have also excavated mud bricks and remains of more than 20 settlements in Jericho, some which dates back to 11000 years ago.
Historical Background
The entire city of Jericho sits on land estimated to be about 2.5 hectares. The major archeological excavations at Jericho are the piles of mud bricks believed to be the remains of the fallen walls of Jericho. Biblically, the Walls of Jericho were built to prevent flood from sweeping into the city. The whole is believed to have been approximately 5 feet thick and about 12 to 17 feet high. An extra tower had also been built majorly for ceremonial lessons. Both the wall and the tower were built just before the start of the agrarian revolution and were majorly built from mud bricks as most of the houses in the city.
The first ever excavations to be done at Jericho was executed by Charles Warren in 1868. Thereafter, other archeologists such as Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger did subsequent excavations at Tell es-Sultan and Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq. All these archeologists majorly relied on traditional tools and techniques to excavate the respective sites in Jericho. Between 1952 and 1958, Jericho witnessed more elaborate and extensive exactions that made use of the most modern techniques. These were done by Kathleen Kenyon. These are the only recorded archeological excavations doe not a personal level. Since then, the Italian-Palestinian archaeological project of excavation and restoration was resumed was launched in 2009 which took over and controlled all archeological excavations in Jericho. The program was led and directed by Lorenzo Nigro and Hamdan Taha.
A number of important have been made from the various excavations. For instance, it has been established that earliest known human settlement was located at Tell es-Sultan, a few kilometers from where the current city is located. Early settlement in Jericho dates back to about 10,000 BCE. According to historians, the period is believed to have been characterized by drought and cold and as a result, permanent settlement at any given location was virtually impossible, people kept moving from one point to another. Nevertheless, the Ein es-Sultan spring has been identified as the belied common camping site for most hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited Jericho.
The Italian-Palestinian archaeological project of excavation and restoration established in 2009 has since taken over any excavation activities in Jericho. For instance, any archeologist intending to carry out any excavation in Jericho must go through the leadership of the Italian-Palestinian archaeological project of excavation and restoration to seek permission. A number of archeologists and researchers have thus done numerous excavations and fossil exploration in Jericho. Nevertheless, most of these excavations often revolve around the broad issue of the walls of Jericho.
Archeological progress at the site
As earlier on mentioned, all the excavations activities in the entire Jericho are under the control of The Italian-Palestinian archaeological project of excavation and restoration. Excavation in Jericho has never stopped, apart from archeologists who change from one to the other. Currently, most excavations are concentrated on establishing he ancient tools used by the earliest inhabitants of the region. In fact, due to the continued excavation in Jericho, the entire activities have been categorized into various groups depending on the time at which the excavation was done. Under these categories, excavations in Jericho have been categorized as pre-pottery Neolithic, Bronze age, Iron Age, Persian periods and finally Hellenistic period. The most recent excavation period is the Byzantine period.
Jericho has also been subsequently used as an archeological study site, where students are taken to carry out studies on already excavated artifacts. The preserved artifacts are available to any other archeologist who might need to carry out case studies or make reference to any newly excavated artifacts. This has thus kept Jericho as an important archeological site in the world’s history. In fact, excavations from Jericho have been identified among the oldest excavations in archeology.
Objectives of the current excavation
A number of archeologists still do not agree to the relationship between the archeological excavations found at Jericho and the Biblical stories. In fact, a number of such archeologists, including Dr. Richard Leakey, purport there lack sufficient evidence to link the excavations to such stories in the bible. This has therefore driven further excavations at Jericho, with most archeologists hoping to find further evidence to explain the existence of such relationships. One of the major objectives of the current excavations is thus to find more evidence linking the exactions to the stories in the bible.
Another significant objective of the current excavations at Jericho is to discover some of the ancient tools and other objects that were used by the initial settlers of the site. For instance, a number of archeologists have continuously casted doubt on the ability of the residents to build more developed structures such as the walls of Jericho given the tools and other building equipment that existed at the material time.
Significance of the discoveries to biblical studies
The various excavations, especially those at the mound of Jericho in the valley of Palestine have generated a number of findings that justify the veracity of some of the biblical accounts. The most common biblical story relating to Jericho is that that gives account of the falling of the walls of Jericho as detailed in the book of Joshua. Apparently, according to Joshua, the walls of Jericho fell after God had instructed him to tell the Israelite army to match around the same walls for six consecutive days. The fall of the walls thus allowed the Israelite army to capture and seize Canaan. The discovery of mud bricks at Tell es-Sultan thus confirms to the existence of the walls. The piles of mud bricks discovered at the site thus confirm that the wall fell beneath itself.
Another common biblical story related to Jericho is recorded in the biblical book of Judges. In this book, it is recorded that the King of Israel at that time, built a palace at Jericho and settled there for almost 18 years. According to the first archeologist to excavate the site, Sir Charles Warren in 1868, an earth embankment found at the archeological site points to the existence of such a palace. Similarly, the middle building was isolated thus resembling the building plans for other palaces of that time.
Bibliography
Andrea, Alfred J., and Carolyn Neel. 2011. World history encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO.
Boer, Leo, and Bart Wagemakers. 2014. Archaeology in the Land of "Tells and Ruins": a History of Excavations in the Holy Land Inspired by the Photographs and Accounts of Leo Boer.
Bryant G. Wood. 2010. “Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho?,” Biblical Archaeology Review, March-April: 44-58;
Fisher, Dan. 2007. "World's Oldest City Retains Lure : Biblical Jericho: Winter Oasis for the West Bank", Los Angeles Times
Kathleen M. Kenyon; Thomas A. Holland. 2011. Excavations at Jericho: The architecture and stratigraphy of the Tell : plates, p. 6. British School of Archaeology. Retrieved 24th February 2016.
The Walls of Jericho. 1999. Bible and Spade, Spring: 35-42.]
