The Excavations of Jericho

One of the first stories I remember learning in church as a child is the Old Testament

story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. It is one of the most popular stories of the Bible.

Interestingly enough, this Biblical account is more than just a childhood story. It is literally

a factual historical event that matches the chronology and accounts which the Old

Testament speaks of. In addition, it was a major turning point in Israel’s history as they

became, as promised, a great nation.

The Old Testament book of Joshua begins as the Israelites end the forty years of

wandering in the desert. According to Biblical chronology, the conquest date was

approximately 1400 B.C. Moses had died and Joshua became the leader of the nation as

they began to enter the Promise Land. While the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant,

they stepped into the Jordan River and the waters parted allowing the Israelites to cross on

dry ground. In chapter 6:2, Joshua was then given his orders by the Lord, “See, I have

given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors”.

The Bible tells of the instructions that God gave to conquer the heavily fortified city

of Jericho. The Israelites were to march once around the city for six days with the Ark of

the Covenant. On the seventh day they were to march around the city seven times. On the

seventh time the priests, who carried the trumpets, were to blow the trumpets with a long

blast and everyone was to shout and the walls of Jericho would “fall down flat”. The

Israelites then wiped out the inhabitants and then “Burned the city with fire, and all that

was in it” (Joshua 6:24). This was uncontested story for many centuries.
 Excavation in Jericho’s ancient city “Tell es-Sultan” began in 1907-1909 by a

German team of archaeologists named Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger. The lack of dating

methods at the time prevented them from any effective understanding of the digs. Later, in

the 1930’s a British archaeologist named John Garstang excavated the Tel and from his

finding confirmed the accuracy of the Biblical description. Much of Garstang’s work

discovered the collapsed walls of the fortress as described in Joshua 6:20. Garstang said of

his expedition, “There is no difficulty now in understanding the note of confident faith

which breathes in every line of the Bible narrative”.1

However in the 1950’s, Kathleen Kenyon excavated Jericho but with different

presuppositions of the Bible than other archaeologists at Jericho before her. She agreed

that the city was destroyed and that it was burned badly. However, by the time she was

finished with the excavation she concluded that the work of Garstang in the 1930, was

incorrect. Her basis was that Joshua and the Israelites in the conquest couldn’t have

possibly destroyed the mighty fortress of Jericho. Her research exposed, according to her,

that the ancient city was destroyed in 1550 B.C. by the Egyptians. This would have been

over a hundred and fifty years before Joshua ever arrived. Her main conclusion for such an

early dating was based on the fact that she hadn’t found any imported Cypriote pottery at

Jericho. Therefore she placed the dating at the end of the Middle Bronze Age rather than

within the Biblical chronology at the Late Bronze I Period in 1400 B.C. Most skeptics have

found Kenyon’s studies to be convincing even though they are based on what she hadn’t

found.

1
Price, Randall. The Stones Cry Out. Harvest House Publishers. Oregon, 1997. Pg 143.
 In the 1990’s an archaeologist named Dr. Bryant Wood began to reexamine the

findings and excavations of Kenyon and Garstang. Dr. Wood is also a specialist in

Canaanite pottery. Rather than basing conclusions on evidence that wasn’t there,

specifically the Cypriote pottery, Wood examined the pottery that had be excavated by

Garstang and affirmed that this pottery was in fact, in harmony with the Late Bronze I

Period (1400 B.C.). Dr. Wood also conducted Carbon-14 dating of some charcoal from

Jericho and the dating agreed with the Biblical dating of 1410 B.C., well within the time

period.2

Dr. Wood affirmed that the city was a grand fortification during the Late Bronze I

Period. It was heavily destroyed by fire as Joshua 6:24 attests. Thick ash and debris is

abundant amid the ruins at Jericho. Also amongst the ruins, were found many enormous

vessels of grain that were left intact. Grain would normally be looted by the conquering

forces. This too is in agreement with the Biblical explanation of the battle of Jericho.

Joshua 6:17-18 states that God put a divine ban to prohibit the city from being plundered.

This is in contrast the typical battles of this period; normally plundering would be carried

out before the burning. The time period of the abundance of grain found at Jericho is also

in harmony with Scripture which states in Joshua 3:15 that the harvest season was at hand.

The walls at Jericho were leveled as the Bible describes however, a portion of the

Northern wall is still intact. This small detail is in sync with the story of Rahab the

prostitute and her family who miraculously survived the collapsing of the fortress walls.

When examined in light of the Biblical description the fine details of the excavations

at Jericho, one finds that what is found in the ruins fit harmoniously with the story of the

2
Price, Randall. The Stones Cry Out. Harvest House Publishers. Oregon, 1997. Pg153.
Israelite conquest. To ignore the similarities between the two would be absurd. To claim

them simply as coincidence would be a gross underestimation. It can only be expected that

more excavating and examining of Tell es-Sultan will reveal more evidence. It will clarify

our understanding of the events surrounding the conquest and how God intervened for His

people as He established the nation of Israel.