Considered to be the oldest archeological city excavated in modern history, Jericho sits approximately 65 ft above a plain and about 800 ft below sea level in the Jordanian valley just north of the Dead Sea. It is estimated to have had been occupied as early as 8000 BC. Due to an underground spring, Jericho was a city that thrived with springtime weather all year around and for this; it was given the name, “city of palms.” This gave the city of Jericho the advantage of great agricultural accomplishments. This advantage allowed them to grow such things as bananas, dates, and many other assorted fruits and vegetables. Through archeological findings there is evidence that the beginning of Jericho’s history was probably first nomadic, as it slowly became a settled community.
Jericho is rich in the History of the Middle Eastern peoples that have lived near and around the site. According to Biblical Text it was under siege by Joshua who was told by God to march around the city seven times. When Joshua and the people of Israel marched around Jericho on the seventh day, and as the priest of Israel blew their ram horns seven times, the city walls fell in ruin, thus giving Joshua and the army of Israel complete reign over the city. Joshua and the armies of Israel slaughtered every member of the city except one person and her family; this person was Rahab, a prostitute who helped the spies of Israel in this nomadic siege against the people and the city of Jericho. It is documented Rahab is a descendant of Christ.
Jericho’s past began to unravel when the British archeologist Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950’s found that through several millennia did Jericho thrive. The main mound “Tell es-sultan” is the remnant of several layers of settlements, each thriving during different times in history. There have been sixty-five centuries of habitation in Jericho with perhaps more than ten different cultures occupying the city at different times in history. Jericho, the ancient city, was first discovered when a strange structure first thought to be a shrine was unearthed along with a wall much older than the wall Joshua was to have been destroyed.
The people of Jericho built a massive wall around 7000 BC; there was also a giant ditch cut deep into the rock that led to a high tower, in this tower were found twelve skeletons with masks of clay on each, this gives notion to ancestor worship, but that is only speculative. This discovery proves Jericho was a city of a rather vast population of perhaps two to three thousand people. This evidence also gives proof of massive building of cities by early civilizations long before archeologist first estimated, which is three thousand years before the Sumerians, the first then known city builder’s. It is also estimated somewhere around the time of the Middle Bronze Age that the city of Jericho was laid to waste by a devastating fire. There is also evidence of rebuilding during the fourteenth century not long after this devastation occurred. This new construction project probably took place during the time of Joshua’s invasions. After the seventh century BC there is no more evidence of this site being the chief center of Jericho, what happened is not recollected.
The new modern Jericho is now ruled by the Palestinian people due to a peace accord written in May 1993 between the Palestinians and the Israeli Government. This made Jericho the first city to be occupied by a self ruled Palestinian State on the West Bank. The estimated population of today’s Jericho including those in refugee camps and the surrounding area by a 1994 census is 25,000 people of both Palestinian and Israeli descent. Like the old city, the new Jericho is still fed by the same underground spring. It is still surrounded by rich land and a humid and mild climate that make it suitable for a new revived city of ancient lineage. With a year round springtime the new Jericho thrives like the old city as new housing projects sprouts into new suburbs for a very troubled land.
NOW FOR A LITTLE FUN AND MUSIC!!
