Source Count: 13 | Weighted Score: 29 | Source Confidence: [3/5] | Primary Tier: 1–2 | Last Updated: March 11, 2026
Keywords: Jericho, Tell es-Sultan, Neolithic, PPNA, PPNB, tower, wall, fortification, plastered skulls, Natufian, oasis, Jordan Valley, Dead Sea, Kathleen Kenyon, oldest city, agriculture, domestication, stratification, spring, settlement
Category Tags: sites-and-artifacts, archaeology, Neolithic, Levant, ancient-city
Cross-References: F_3_01 — Neolithic Revolution · D_3_08 — Neolithic Sites · F_3_01 — Agricultural Origins · D_3_08 — Çatalhöyük

QUICK SUMMARY

Jericho (Arabic: Arīḥā; Hebrew: Yeriḥo; modern Tell es-Sultan) — an ancient settlement mound beside the perennial spring of Ain es-Sultan in the southern Jordan Valley, approximately 10 km north of the Dead Sea and 258 m below sea level — holds a strong claim to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world and the site of the oldest known stone fortification: a massive stone wall and an adjacent circular stone tower dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, approximately 8500–7500 BCE (some dates extending as far back as ~9000 BCE). The tell rises approximately 21 meters above the surrounding plain and accumulated over 45 distinct occupation strata spanning from the Natufian/Epi-Paleolithic (c. 10,000–9000 BCE) through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods — a settlement history of nearly 12,000 years. During the PPNA, a community of approximately 300–1,000 inhabitants constructed the famous tower (a solid stone structure approximately 8.5 m tall, 9 m in diameter, with an internal staircase of 22 stone steps) and a substantial enclosure wall (approximately 3.6 m high, 1.8 m thick at the base) — the earliest known monumental architecture in the world and a millennium older than the next comparable constructions. The PPNA inhabitants practiced early pre-domestication cultivation of wild cereals (emmer wheat, barley) and hunted gazelle while beginning to experiment with livestock management. The subsequent Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) phase (c. 7500–6000 BCE) saw the development of fully domesticated crops, rectangular mud-brick architecture, and the striking practice of plastered skulls — skulls of deceased community members removed after burial, modeled with plaster to recreate facial features, and sometimes painted or fitted with shell eyes — a mortuary practice shared with other PPNB Levantine sites (Ain Ghazal, Tell Aswad). Jericho was excavated principally by John Garstang (1930–1936) and Kathleen Kenyon (1952–1958), whose meticulous stratigraphic methods revolutionized Near Eastern archaeology.

1. VERIFIED CLAIMS (Tier 1 — Peer-Reviewed / Archaeological Record)

1.1 The PPNA Tower and Wall

• Tower (c. 8500–8000 BCE):
• A stone-built cylindrical structure approximately 8.5 m in height and 9 m in external diameter
• Constructed of undressed local field stones set in mud mortar
• Contains an internal staircase of 22 stone steps ascending from a doorway at the base to the top — the oldest known staircase in the world
• Built against the inside face of the enclosure wall
• Function debated: defensive watchtower, ceremonial platform, communal gathering point, symbolic monument, or astronomical marker (see Tier 2–3)
• Enclosure wall:
• Stone wall approximately 3.6 m high and 1.8 m thick at the base
• Traced for sections along the tell's perimeter — whether it encircled the entire settlement or protected only the western/vulnerable side is debated
• An external rock-cut ditch (approximately 8.5 m wide, 2.7 m deep) was carved into the bedrock outside the wall — adding to the fortification effect
• Together, the wall and tower represent the oldest known monumental stone construction in the world

1.2 Pre-Pottery Neolithic Sequence

• Natufian (c. 10,000–9000 BCE): the earliest occupation — semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer community exploiting the spring and surrounding resources
• PPNA (c. 9000/8500–7500 BCE, ~Kenyon Stages I–III): the tower/wall phase:
• Round/oval mud-brick houses with domed roofs (the earliest mud-brick architecture in the Levant)
• Population estimated at 300–1,000 inhabitants
• Subsistence: harvesting wild or pre-domesticated emmer wheat, barley, pulses; hunting gazelle; exploiting the Ain es-Sultan spring
• No pottery
• PPNB (c. 7500–6000 BCE, Kenyon Stages IV–VIII):
• Rectangular mud-brick houses with plastered and sometimes painted floors
• Fully domesticated emmer wheat, barley, lentils; management of goats/sheep
• Plastered skulls: approximately seven skulls recovered by Kenyon (additional examples from later excavations) — skulls of deceased adults removed from burials, the faces modeled in plaster (lime-based) with realistic nasal features, and in some cases fitted with cowrie shell "eyes"; the skulls were then displayed or re-buried in groups beneath house floors

1.3 Kathleen Kenyon's Excavations

• Kenyon (1952–1958) applied the Wheeler-Kenyon method (section-drawing of balks, stratigraphic recording in three dimensions) to Jericho — this was one of the first major applications of modern stratigraphic excavation in the Near East and set the standard for subsequent excavations
• Kenyon identified 45 destruction and rebuilding phases across the tell's full depth
• Her radiocarbon dates for the PPNA tower and wall (c. 8000 BCE) were initially met with skepticism but have been confirmed and refined by subsequent dating programs

1.4 Bronze Age Jericho

• A walled city existed at Jericho during the Early and Middle Bronze Ages (c. 3300–1550 BCE):
• Mud-brick and stone fortifications were rebuilt multiple times
• The MBA (c. 2000–1550 BCE) city ended in a violent destruction — earthquakes and/or military action
• The site was largely unoccupied during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1400–1300 BCE) — Kenyon found virtually no LBA remains, complicating attempts to link the site to the biblical conquest narrative (Joshua 6)

2. CREDIBLE CLAIMS (Tier 2 — Academic / Debated but Supported)

2.1 Tower Function Debate

• Defensive interpretation (traditional): the tower and wall represent a response to threats — raiding, warfare, or conflict over the oasis's resources; the "fortress" model was Kenyon's initial interpretation
• Communal/ceremonial interpretation (Bar-Yosef, 1986; Naveh, 2003): the tower and wall may have served to define community identity, regulate access, manage floods (the wall may have functioned partly as a flood barrier against winter rains washing from the hills), or mark a sacred precinct; the investment of communal labor in monumental construction may itself have been the social function — creating group solidarity
• Astronomical interpretation (Barkai & Liran, 2008): a study showed that the summer solstice sunset, as viewed from the top of the tower, aligns precisely with the shadow cast by the nearby Mount Quarantul on the tell — suggesting the tower may have been positioned to mark the solstice; the internal staircase then provided access for observation

2.2 Plastered Skulls — Ancestor Veneration

• The PPNB plastered skulls are widely interpreted as evidence of ancestor veneration or a "skull cult":
• The effort invested in realistic facial modeling suggests the community maintained a relationship with specific deceased individuals
• Similar practices at multiple PPNB sites (Ain Ghazal, Beisamoun, Kfar HaHoresh, Tell Aswad) indicate a widespread Levantine Neolithic belief system centered on the dead as part of the living community
• Whether the skulls were displayed in houses (public viewing), circulated between households, or used in periodic ceremonies is uncertain

2.3 Biblical Jericho

• The biblical account of Jericho's conquest (Joshua 6 — the walls "fell down flat" after being circled seven times) has been a magnet for archaeological investigation:
• Garstang (1930s) identified a destruction level he dated to ~1400 BCE and attributed to Joshua
• Kenyon (1950s) re-dated Garstang's destruction level to ~1550 BCE (MBA/LBA transition) and found virtually no LBA occupation — concluding that no fortified city existed for Joshua to conquer at the date traditionally assigned
• The debate remains active: scholars (Bryant Wood, 1990) have challenged Kenyon's ceramic dating; others accept that the biblical account may preserve a cultural memory of Bronze Age events but cannot be stratigraphically correlated with Joshua as described

3. SPECULATIVE CLAIMS (Tier 3 — Possible but Unverified)

3.1 Pre-Natufian Occupation

• Whether the Ain es-Sultan spring attracted Upper Paleolithic or earlier visitors before the Natufian period is plausible given the spring's ecological importance, but no pre-Natufian stratified deposits have been securely identified at Tell es-Sultan

3.2 Proto-Urbanism

• Whether PPNA Jericho qualifies as a "city" or even a "proto-urban center" depends on definitions — its population (~300–1,000), monumental architecture, and apparent communal organization suggest a settlement beyond a simple village, but whether it had specialized institutions, social stratification, or markets is unknown

4. DUBIOUS CLAIMS (Tier 4 — No Credible Source / Contradicted by Evidence)

4.1 Walls Flattened by Sound/Vibration

• [UNSUPPORTED] Claims that the "walls of Jericho" were destroyed by sonic weaponry, resonant frequencies, or the literal power of trumpet blasts are not supported by any archaeological or physical evidence — the MBA destruction shows evidence of earthquakes and/or conventional military assault

4.2 Supernatural Dating

• [MISLEADING] Claims assigning Jericho's walls to dates derived from biblical genealogies (e.g., a conquest date of exactly 1406 BCE) privilege textual chronology over the physical evidence — Kenyon's stratigraphy and subsequent excavations demonstrate that no fortified LBA city existed at Tell es-Sultan in the 15th–14th centuries BCE

Counter-Arguments & Criticisms

No significant counter-arguments exist in the scholarly literature for the core claims in this document. Jericho: Oldest Walled Settlement and Neolithic Revolution represents established archaeological and historical consensus with no active scholarly dispute over the fundamental claims presented here.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Kenyon, K.M | 1960–1983 | ∅ | Excavations at Jericho | ∅ | ∅ | 5 vols | ∅ | doi:10.1017/s0003598x00055654 | ∅ | ∅ | British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem
2. Kenyon, K.M | 1957 | ∅ | Digging Up Jericho | ∅ | ∅ | Ernest Benn | ∅ | doi:10.1017/s0003581500083712 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
3. Bar-Yosef, O | 1986 | "The Walls of Jericho: An Alternative Interpretation" | Current Anthropology | ∅ | 27.2::157–162 | ∅ | ∅ | doi:10.1086/203413 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
4. Barkai, R.; Liran, R | 2008 | "Midsummer Sunset at Neolithic Jericho" | Time and Mind | ∅ | 1.3::273–284 | ∅ | ∅ | doi:10.2752/175169708x329345 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
5. Garstang, J.; Garstang, J.B.E | 1948 | ∅ | The Story of Jericho | ∅ | ∅ | Marshall, Morgan & Scott | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
6. Nigro, L | 2014 | "Tell es-Sultan/Jericho in the Early Bronze Age" | Egypt and the Levant | ∅ | ∅ | In , ed | ∅ | doi:10.2307/j.ctvwh8bss.12 | ∅ | ∅ | E; Levy; Equinox, , 553 580
7. Kuijt, I | 2008 | "The Regeneration of Life: Neolithic Structures of Symbolic Remembering and Forgetting" | Current Anthropology | ∅ | 49.2::171–197 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
8. Kenyon, K.M | 1967 | "Jericho" | Archaeology and Old Testament Study | ∅ | ∅ | In , ed | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | D.W; Thomas; Clarendon Press, , 264 275
9. Wood, B.G | 1990 | "Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho?" | Biblical Archaeology Review | ∅ | 16.2::44–58 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
10. Nigro, L. et al | 1999 | "Preliminary Report of the First Season of Excavations by Rome 'La Sapienza' University at Tell es-Sultan/Jericho" | Scienze dell'Antichità | ∅ | 5::291–337 | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
11. Mithen, S.J | 2003 | ∅ | After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000–5000 BC | ∅ | ∅ | Weidenfeld & Nicolson | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
12. Hodder, I | 1990 | ∅ | The Domestication of Europe | ∅ | ∅ | Blackwell | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅
13. Rollefson, G.O | 2001 | "The Neolithic Period" | The Archaeology of Jordan | ∅ | ∅ | In , ed | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | ∅ | B; MacDonald et al; Sheffield Academic Press, , 67 105

CROSS-REFERENCE INDEX

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