Jericho

Jericho is a Palestinian city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank. It lies at latitude 31 52 degrees north and longitude 35 39 degrees east and is 250 metres below sea level. Jericho is one of the most ancient human habitations. Bartlett (1982) suggests the most ancient human remains were found in it, some of which go back to 5000 years B. C. Bartlett also believes some settlements date back to 9000 years B. C. The Ancient city was occupied by Jordan from 1948 to 1967 (Bartlett, 1982). Over centuries communities became abandoned and new settlements set up. Hunters were attracted to this location because of the abundant water sources nearby. Aqueducts and other irrigation systems were built early on, making the city an agricultural center. By 8000 BC, about 2,000 people had permanently settled near present-day Jericho (Metzger and Coogan, 1993). Jericho was an important city in the Old Testament. The city was overtaken and devastated several times. However, it was always reoccupied — sometimes quickly and other times very slowly. Herod the Great, Cleopatra, and Augustus are some of the mighty rulers that once took claim of some or all of Jericho. Many Galileans would travel through the Jordan valley and go by Jericho on their route to Jerusalem. By taking this course, they could avoid passing through Samaritan territory (Metzger and Coogan, 1993). Jericho later fell to the Babylonians, but was rebuilt when the Jews were allowed to return from their exile. The city continued to be a resort during the rule of the succeeding empires. For Christians, Jericho took on importance because of its association with John the Baptist, who was said to have been baptised by the banks of the Jordan on the eastern boundary of the city. The Romans destroyed the old city in the first century, but it was rebuilt in its present location by the Byzantines. The city briefly returned to glory when Caliph Hisham Ibn Abd el-Malik built his winter palace in Jericho in 743, but an earthquake destroyed virtually the entire city just four years later. The city later fell to the Crusaders and then was recaptured by Saladin. Jericho was largely ignored and deserted for centuries afterward. The economy of this time was in a transition from one of gathering food, to an economy of producing food. The earliest inhabitants are known as the An -Natifiyyun. These people relied on gathering wild seeds for food. It is unlikely that they planted these seeds, but rather harvested them using tools. These tools included scythes with flint edges and straight bone handles. They used stone mortars with handles to grind the seeds. Some of the An-Natifiyyun lived in nearby caves. Others lived in primitive villages, excelling in architecture. Over the course of time, they learned how to make sun-dried bricks, and began to build more substantial dwellings. These dwellings were round huts, constructed from flat-bottomed bricks, which curved at the higher edge. Canals were dug from ancient Jericho to the nearby Ein Al-Sultan spring. These canals provided ample supplies of water for residential use. As their economy progressed, they used these canals to irrigate their fields. They constructed walls 6. 56 feet (2m) in width to surround and enclose their villages. Within these walls they erected a massive tower, (9m) in diameter, and (10m) in height. Today Jericho is often referred to as the oldest city on earth, with a history of over ten thousand years. This ancient city is located in the region of Canaan at the lower end of the Jordan valley about eight miles north of the Dead Sea. Hunters were attracted to this location because of the abundant water sources nearby. Aqueducts and other irrigation systems were built early on, making the city an agricultural center. By 8000 BC, about 2,000 people had permanently settled near present-day Jericho Jericho was an important city in the Old Testament. The city was overtaken and devastated several times. However, it was always reoccupied — sometimes quickly and other times very slowly. The city of Jericho, now identified with Tel es-Sultan, is thought by some archaeologists to be as much as 11,000 years old, making it one of the oldest sites of human settlement in the world. The earliest evidence of human occupation is a Mesolithic shrine and there is evidence one city build overtop of another for several millennia. The most prominent features of ancient Jericho would have been the large, high walls. It is the oldest walled city in human history and walls remain a significant aspect of archaeological digs. Jericho had stonewalls by 7,000 BCE, even before the invention of pottery. The first walls at Jericho were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period, indicating that violence and conflict were important parts of Jericho's history for a very long time. The first permanent settlement was built near the Ein as-Sultan spring between 10,000 and 9000 BC. As the world warmed, a new culture based on agriculture and sedentary dwelling emerged, which archaeologists called â€Å"Pre-Pottery Neolithic A† which were characterized by small circular dwellings, burials of the dead within the floors of buildings, reliance on hunting wild game, the cultivation of wild or domestic cereals, and no use of pottery. At Jericho, circular dwellings were built of clay and straw bricks left to dry in the sun, which were plastered together with a mud mortar. Each house measured about 5 metres across, and was roofed with mud-smeared brush. Hearths were located within and outside the homes. During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, settlement-phase the architecture consisted of rectilinear buildings made of mudbricks on stone foundations. The mudbricks were loaf-shaped with deep thumb prints to facilitate bounding. No building has been excavated in its entirety. Normally, several rooms cluster around a central courtyard. There is one big room ( with internal divisions, the rest are small, presumably used for storage. The rooms have red or pinkish terrazzo-floors made of lime. Some impressions of mats made of reeds or rushes have been preserved. The courtyards have clay floors. The dead were buried under the floors or in the rubble fill of abandoned buildings. There are several collective burials. Not all the skeletons are completely articulated, which may point to a time of exposure before burial. A skull cache would contained seven skulls. The jaws were removed and the faces covered with plaster; cowries were used as eyes. As new settlements arose they began to encourage the growth of plants such as barley and lentils and the domestication of pigs, sheep and goats. People no longer looked for their favorite food sources where they occurred naturally. Now they introduced them into other locations. An agricultural revolution had begun. The ability to expand the food supply in one area allowed the development of permanent settlements of greater size and complexity. The people of the Neolithic or New Stone Age (8000-5000 B. C. ) organized fairly large villages. Jericho grew into a fortified town complete with ditches, stone walls, and towers and contained perhaps 2000 residents. Although agriculture resulted in a stable food supply for permanent communities, the revolutionary aspect of this development was that the community could bring what they needed (natural resources plus their tool kit) to make a new site inhabitable. This development made it possible to create larger communities and also helped to spread the practice of agriculture to a wider area. The presence of tools and statues made of stone not available locally indicates that there was also some trading with distant regions. Agricultural society brought changes in the organization of religious practices as well. Sanctuary rooms decorated with frescoes and sculptures of the heads of bulls and bears shows us that structured religious rites were important to the inhabitants of these early communities. At Jericho, human skulls were covered with clay in an attempt to make them look as they had in life suggesting that they practiced a form of ancestor worship. Bonds of kinship that had united hunters and gatherers were being supplemented by religious organization, which helped to regulate the social behavior of the community. Because it is one of the oldest human settlements and perhaps the oldest walled city in history, archaeological excavations at Jericho provide invaluable information about how people lived and died thousands of years ago. Numerous tombs, furniture, pottery, and beads have been discovered. Politically, Palestine was a collection of independent city states at this time, with each city under the control of one King. The presence of massive defense walls suggests that these independent city-state Kings frequently attacked each other. The walls of Jericho from this time attest to that theory. Over the course of a 600 year period, beginning around 2900 B. C. E. , the walls of Jericho were rebuilt sixteen times. Invaders are not the only cause of this, as earthquakes, water in the foundations, and other natural causes played a role in the constant maintenance of the city defense structures. Most people know about Jericho in connection with the biblical stories of how the Hebrews conquered Canaan. Under the leadership of Joshua, they marched around the city seven times and God caused the walls to collapse as stated in the bible. Jericho is a religious city that has withstood the test of invasion, destruction, and time.