Jericho (Tel es-Sultan)
What Was Found
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with a Neolithic tower dating to approximately 8000 BCE — among the earliest monumental structures known. Located at Tel es-Sultan in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, the site has been central to debates about the Biblical conquest narrative in Joshua 6. John Garstang's excavations in the 1930s uncovered collapsed mudbrick walls and a destruction layer with evidence of burning, which he dated to ca. 1400 BCE, consistent with a 15th-century Exodus. Kathleen Kenyon's more systematic excavations (1952-1958) used stratigraphic methods to redate the destruction of the walled city to the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1550 BCE), centuries before any proposed Exodus date. In 1990, Bryant G. Wood challenged Kenyon's conclusions in Biblical Archaeology Review, arguing that her pottery analysis was flawed and the destruction should be redated to ca. 1400 BCE. Most mainstream archaeologists continue to follow Kenyon's earlier dating, making Jericho one of the most debated sites in Biblical archaeology. The gap between the archaeological and Biblical evidence remains unresolved.
Why This Matters
One of the most important sites for the biblical conquest narrative. The debate over wall dating illustrates the challenges of correlating archaeological evidence with biblical chronology.
Acceptance Assessment
Widely Accepted
The site's identification with biblical Jericho is universally accepted, but the dating of the destruction layers and their relationship to the biblical conquest narrative (Joshua 6) remain highly debated.
What Scholars Debate
The central debate: Garstang dated the fallen walls to ca. 1400 BCE (matching a 15th-century Exodus), but Kenyon redated the destruction to ca. 1550 BCE. Bryant Wood challenged Kenyon's dating in 1990, arguing for a 15th-century destruction based on pottery analysis. Most mainstream archaeologists follow Kenyon's chronology, making the site debated rather than a clear confirmation.
