Controversies on the Background of Jericho in the Old Testament
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Jericho is the oldest town known in the world, having public buildings dating back about four thousand years before the beginning of urbanization in the country and the entire Ancient East. It is estimated by Dame Kathleen Kenyon that about two thousand people lived in the city. "Dating to the Neolithic Period (8500 and 4300) an interesting discovery at Jericho is the earliest defense system known in the world" (Hoerth 1998, 83). Jericho was protected by a moat that measured nine feet deep and twenty-seven feet across. Behind the moat was a defensive wall over six feet thick and preserved to a height of twelve feet. Attached to the wall was a round stone tower thirty feet high. "Because the surrounding area was very plentiful and had a warm comfortable climate with fertile soil from the valley, it permitted an abundance of irrigational cultivation unparallel elsewhere" (Aharoni 1978, 27). Tools and storage vessels were found, but according to one opinion, "these circumstances are insufficient to explain the existence of a town so large and well developed" (Aharoni 1978, 27). Noticeable differences existed in the material culture of the various regions, and it would appear that the people's attachment to a certain region and the limitation of their wandering, led to a development of local cultures. "These differences make the relative dating of the various sites complicated and unclear as to which sites were earlier or which were contemporary in spite of the differences between them" (Aharoni 1978, 25)...