Jericho

The archaeology of Jericho is central to debates about the historicity and date of the Israelite conquest, with significant implications for understanding Joshua 6.

Tell es-Sultan, the mound that contains ancient Jericho, stands about 2 kilometers northwest of the modern city of Jericho in the West Bank. The tell itself rises about 21 meters above the surrounding plain and covers approximately 2.5 hectares, making it one of the smaller major tells in the Levant but also one of the most excavated and discussed. It sits beside a powerful natural spring called Ein es-Sultan, which has sustained human habitation at this spot for thousands of years.

The first scientific investigation of the site was conducted by British engineer Charles Warren in 1868. Warren sank a series of shafts into the mound but was limited by the technology and methods of his time. The first real excavation was carried out by Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger of Germany between 1907 and 1909, and their work exposed substantial architectural remains including what they interpreted as city wall systems from different periods. John Garstang of the University of Liverpool excavated the site between 1930 and 1936 and reported finding walls he attributed to the Late Bronze Age destruction associated with Joshua's conquest. Garstang's interpretation generated tremendous public interest and was widely reported as confirmation of the biblical narrative.

The most important and methodologically rigorous excavation was conducted by Kathleen Kenyon between 1952 and 1958. Kenyon introduced the Wheeler-Kenyon stratigraphic method, which involved carefully excavating in controlled squares and sections rather than following architectural features across a broad area. Her approach allowed a much more precise reading of the site's occupation history. Kenyon's conclusions, published in full after her death in a series of final reports, significantly revised Garstang's findings. She determined that the walls Garstang attributed to the Late Bronze Age conquest period actually dated to the Early Bronze Age, roughly 3000 BCE or earlier, and that the city had not been substantially occupied during the Late Bronze Age, the period most commonly assigned to the Israelite conquest (roughly 1400 to 1200 BCE).

The 23 occupation layers at Tell es-Sultan represent one of the longest settlement histories of any site on earth. The earliest occupation, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period around 10,000 BCE, includes the remains of a substantial round stone tower about 9 meters tall and 9 meters in diameter with an internal staircase. This tower, discovered by Kenyon, is one of the oldest known monumental stone structures in the world. The same period produced evidence of organized settlement, agriculture, and food storage, pushing the origins of urban-like life back far earlier than had been expected.

The Neolithic through Chalcolithic periods are well represented at the site, as are the Early Bronze Age levels, which show a substantial walled city with mudbrick fortifications and a stone revetment wall. The Middle Bronze Age (roughly 2000 to 1550 BCE) also has occupation evidence. It is the Late Bronze Age (roughly 1550 to 1200 BCE) that is conspicuously thin or absent in the record, which is the period most relevant to the biblical conquest narrative.

After the initial conquest debates settled into scholarly consensus that Late Bronze Age Jericho lacks the destruction evidence needed to match Joshua 6, additional voices proposed alternative frameworks. Some scholars argue for an earlier date for the Exodus and conquest, pointing to an Early Bronze Age or Middle Bronze Age city destruction that could fit a relocated timeline. Others interpret the Joshua narrative as a theological and literary text that uses Jericho as a paradigmatic story of divine power rather than a literal military record. A third group sees the conquest as a gradual process of migration and settlement rather than a sudden military campaign, which would not necessarily leave the kind of destruction evidence archaeology looks for.

Jericho appears in later biblical periods as well. First Kings 16:34 records that Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho during the reign of Ahab in the ninth century BCE, at the cost of his sons' lives in fulfillment of Joshua's curse in Joshua 6:26. By the New Testament period, Jericho was again a significant city. Luke 10:30 places Jesus's parable of the Good Samaritan on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and Luke 19:1 records Jesus passing through Jericho and meeting Zacchaeus. A separate, Herodian-period Jericho was built by Herod the Great about 2 kilometers south of Tell es-Sultan and has been excavated separately, revealing a large palace complex.

Palestinian and Jordanian teams have conducted additional surveys and limited excavations at Tell es-Sultan since Kenyon's time, and the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023 as part of a broader nomination of Palestinian sites.

• Tell es-Sultan contains at least 23 occupation layers spanning from approximately 10,000 BCE to the Byzantine period, making it one of the world's oldest continuously occupied sites
• A Pre-Pottery Neolithic stone tower approximately 9 meters tall was discovered by Kathleen Kenyon, dating to around 8000 BCE and representing some of the earliest known monumental stone construction anywhere
• Kathleen Kenyon's 1952 to 1958 excavations using rigorous stratigraphic methods showed that the walls Garstang attributed to the Late Bronze Age conquest period actually dated to the Early Bronze Age
• The Late Bronze Age levels at the site are thin or absent, raising major questions about the biblical account of Joshua's conquest, which most scholars place in this period
• John Garstang's earlier excavations (1930 to 1936) had incorrectly identified mudbrick collapse layers as evidence of the Joshua conquest, and Kenyon's work revised this conclusion
• The site is located beside Ein es-Sultan, a powerful spring that has sustained human habitation for thousands of years
• First Kings 16:34 records the later rebuilding of Jericho during the ninth century BCE, and New Testament accounts place Jesus in the city during his ministry
• The site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023 as part of a broader nomination of Palestinian archaeological sites

Jericho is one of the most frequently cited cities in the entire biblical narrative, appearing from the book of Numbers through the New Testament. Joshua 6:1 describes Jericho as 'tightly shut' before the Israelite advance, and Joshua 6:20 records that the walls fell when the people shouted after seven days of circling the city. Joshua 2:1 places Rahab in Jericho as the spy narrative unfolds before the siege. The site's archaeology, particularly Kenyon's findings, has generated lasting debate because the Late Bronze Age occupation gap means there is no evidence of a substantial walled city at the time most scholars assign to the Joshua narrative. Some scholars, notably John Bimson and Bryant Wood, have argued for reinterpreting the stratigraphy or using an earlier date for the Exodus to resolve this tension. Wood published a study in 1990 arguing that a Middle Bronze Age destruction layer at Jericho actually fits the conquest account if an early Exodus date around 1446 BCE is adopted, referencing 1 Kings 6:1 which places the Exodus 480 years before Solomon's Temple construction. First Kings 16:34 and Joshua 6:26 form a connected prophetic pair, as the curse Joshua pronounced over Jericho's rebuilder is recorded as fulfilled centuries later. In the New Testament, Luke 10:30 uses the Jerusalem to Jericho road as the setting for the parable of the Good Samaritan, and Luke 19:1 records Jesus visiting Jericho and encountering Zacchaeus the tax collector.