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+962 7 9635 8199 [email protected]
Also known as Tell es-Sultan, er-Riha, Eriha, Yeriho
Historical sites in the Jericho

Biblical history makes reference to Jericho as the first place the Israelites under Joshua assaulted after crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 6). According to the biblical story, it was abandoned after being destroyed by the Israelites until Hiel the Bethelite founded himself there in the ninth century BCE (1 Kings 16:34). The Bible has numerous further mentions of Jericho. Herod the Great built a winter home at Jericho, where he also passed away in 4 BCE.

View from Cypros

At a depth of 825 feet (250 meters) below sea level, the “City of Palms” sprawls out along the Jordan River’s western bank.

In the distance stands Tell es-Sultan, the Old Testament city that Joshua destroyed. The Hasmonean kings and Herod the Great had built a new center on the banks of the wadi in the foreground around the time of Jesus.

Tell es-Sultan

is a UNESCO-designated archaeological site in the West Bank, in the State of Palestine, two kilometers north of the city of Jericho. It is close to the Ein as-Sultan refugee camp. With several important archaeological discoveries, the tell, which has been referred to as “the oldest town in the world,” has been inhabited since the 10th millennium BCE. The site is particularly famous for its significance in the development of Levantine archaeology.

Due to its vicinity to the sizable spring of Ein es-Sultan, which Edward Robinson had earlier suggested may be the spring of Elisha, Charles Warren initially suggested the region was the location of ancient Jericho in contemporary times in 1868.

 

Neolithic Tower

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A era began approximately 8000 BCE, when the 8.5-meter-tall (28 foot) stone Tower of Jericho was constructed. It is said to be the earliest stone structure in history as well as maybe the first example of monumental construction.

The old wall of Jericho was found by John Garstang during the 1930–1936 excavations, and he theorized that it was similar to the wall mentioned in the Book of Joshua and estimated to have been constructed approximately 1400 BCE.

In the course of her excavations between 1952 and 1958, Kathleen Kenyon came across the tower constructed up against the town’s wall. Both buildings were part of an early proto-city, according to Kenyon’s research, which placed their origins far earlier, in the Neolithic, the most recent period of the Stone Age.

MB Revetment Wall

Archaeologists have discovered a sizable revetment wall that stabilized the slope of the tell during the Middle Bronze Age thanks to the Sellin and Watzinger excavations.

Large Cyclopean stones made up this revetment wall, which was supported by a mudbrick wall above. In 1997, the southernmost section of the wall was made visible.

Collapsed MB Wall

At the foot of the stone revetment wall, Sellin, Watzinger, and later Kenyon discovered the remnants of a collapsed mudbrick wall.

Bryant Wood gestures toward the bottom of the mudbrick structure. On the day of the wall’s collapse, everyone is in agreement. The most well-informed findings come from Wood, who assigns Joshua as the period when the wall was destroyed (1400 BC).

Storejars of Grain

Numerous store jars full of grain from Jericho, the final Canaanite city, were discovered by both Garstang and Kenyon. The logical conclusion is that these date from the time of the harvest, when Joshua burnt down the city (not pillaged it). As a result, the archaeological evidence perfectly matches the scriptural evidence at this time.

One of Kenyon’s balks at Jericho still houses the store jars shown in this photograph.

Sycamore Tree

“Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. Now a man named Zacchaeus was there; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to get a look at Jesus, but being a short man he could not see over the crowd. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way” (Luke 19:1-4, NET Bible).

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