Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Look at the Archaeological Evidence - The BAS Library

Footnotes

1.

B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) are the religiously neutral terms used by scholars, corresponding to B.C. and A.D.

2.

See John J. Bimson and David Livingston, “Redating the Exodus,” BAR 13:05; Baruch Halpern, “Radical Exodus Redating Fatally Flawed,” BAR 13:06; John J. Bimson, “A Reply to Baruch Halpern,” BAR 14:04, and Manfred Bietak, “Contra Bimson, Bietak Says Late Bronze Age Cannot Begin as Late as 1400 B.C.,” BAR 14:04)

3.

In a future issue, Dr. Wood will discuss this evidence.—Ed.

Endnotes

1.

See James M. Monson, “Climbing into Canaan,” Bible Times 1 (1988), pp. 8–21.

2.

Warren’s 1867 work is described in Charles Warren, Underground Jerusalem (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1876), pp. 164–189. The results of the 1868 expedition were first published in 1869 in a little-circulated, untitled report to the members of the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). This report is in the library of the PEF in London, bound in a volume titled Palestine Exploration Fund Proceedings and Notes, 1865–1869. Warren’s findings are on pp. 14–16 of a longer account of a journey up the Jordan made in February–March 1868, which included soundings at Jericho and eight other tells in the vicinity. The report of the 1868 work was reprinted in Underground Jerusalem, pp. 192–197, and in The Survey of Western Palestine, Vol. III, by C. R. Conder and H.H. Kitchener (London: Committee of the PEF, 1883), pp. 224–226. Warren’s reports have been incorrectly cited by subsequent investigators: John Garstang (“Jericho: City and Necropolis,” p. 3, see endnote 8), Kathleen Kenyon (p. xxiii in Jericho 3, see endnote 18) and Piotr Bienkowski (p. 189 in Jericho in the Late Bronze Age [Warminster, UK: Aris & Phillips, 1986]).

3.

Underground Jerusalem, p. 196.

4.

Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger, Jericho: Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen (Jericho) (Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs, 1913).

5.

Watzinger, “Zur Chronologie der Schichten von Jericho,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gessellschaft 80 (1926), pp. 131–136.

6.

See David Ussishkin, “Notes on the Fortifications of the Middle Bronze II Period at Jericho and Shechem,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) 276 (1989), forthcoming.

7.

John Garstang, “The Date of the Destruction of Jericho,” Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (PEFQS) 1927, pp. 96–100; “Jericho: Sir Charles Marston’s Expedition of 1930,” PEFQS 1930, pp. 123–125; “A Third Season at Jericho,” PEFQS 1932, p. 149; “Jericho and the Biblical Story,” in Wonders of the Past, ed. J.A. Hammerton (New York: Wise, 1937), p. 1216.

8.

John Garstang, “Jericho: City and Necropolis,” University of Liverpool Annuals of Archaeology and Anthropology (LAAA) 19 (1932), pp. 3–22, 35–54; LAAA 20 (1933), pp. 3–42; LAAA 21 (1934), pp. 19–136; LAAA 22 (1935), pp. 143–184; LAAA 23 (1936), pp. 67–76.

9.

John Garstang and J.B.E. Garstang, The Story of Jericho (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, rev. ed., 1948).

10.

John Garstang, “Jericho and the Biblical Story,” p. 1222.

11.

E.g., Louis Hugues Vincent, “The Chronology of Jericho,” PEFQS 1931, pp. 104–105, and “A travers les fouilles palestineennes II. Jericho et sa chronologie,” Revue Biblique 44 (1935), pp. 583–605; Alan Rowe (with John Garstang), “The Ruins of Jericho,” PEFQS 1936, p. 170; William F. Albright, “The Israelite Conquest of Canaan in the Light of Archaeology,” BASOR 74 (1939), pp. 18–20; and G. Ernest Wright, “Epic of Conquest,” Biblical Archaeologist 3 (1940), pp. 35–36.

12.

Kathleen M. Kenyon “Some Notes on the History of Jericho in the Second Millennium B.C.,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly (PEQ) 1951, pp. 101–138.

13.

Kenyon, Beginning in Archaeology (New York: Praeger, 3rd rev. ed., 1972).

14.

Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho (London: Ernest Benn, 1957), p. 262; “Jericho,” in Archaeology and Old Testament Study (AOTS) ed. D. Winton Thomas (Oxford: Clarendon, 1967), pp. 265–267; “Jericho,” in Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (EAEHL), vol. 2, ed. Michael Avi-Yonah (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976), pp. 551, 564; The Bible in Recent Archaeology (Atlanta: John Knox, 1978), pp. 33–37.

15.

Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho.

16.

Kenyon, “British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem Excavations at Jericho 1952,” PEQ 1952, pp. 4–6; “Excavations at Jericho 1952,” PEQ 1952, pp. 62–82; “Excavations at Jericho, 1953,” PEQ 1953, pp. 81–96; “Excavations at Jericho, 1954,” PEQ 1954, pp. 45–63; “Excavations at Jericho, 1955,” PEQ 1955, pp. 108–117; “Excavations at Jericho, 1956,” PEQ 1956, pp. 67–82; “Excavations at Jericho, 1957–58,” PEQ 1960, pp. 88–113.

17.

Kenyon and Thomas A. Holland, Excavations at Jericho Volume 4: The Pottery Type Series and Other Finds (Jericho 4) (London: British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem [BSAJ], 1982); and Excavations at Jericho Volume 5: The Pottery Phases of the Tell and Other Finds (Jericho 5) (London: BSAJ, 1983).

18.

Excavations at Jericho, Vol. 3: The Architecture and Stratigraphy of the Tell (Jericho 3), ed. Thomas A. Holland (London: BSAJ, 1981).

19.

Kenyon, “The Middle and Late Bronze Age Strata at Megiddo,” Levant 1 (1969), pp. 50–51; in Cambridge Ancient History (CAH3), Vol. 2.1, ed. I.E.S. Edwards et al. (Cambridge: The University Press, 3rd ed., 1973), pp. 528–29; Kenyon, Archaeology in the Holy Land (New York: Norton, 4th ed., 1979), pp. 182–183.

20.

Kenyon, “The Middle and Late Bronze Age Strata,” p. 51; “Palestine in the Time of the Eighteenth Dynasty,” pp. 528–529; Archaeology in the Holy Land, p. 182.

21.

Kenyon, Archaeology in the Holy Land, p. 182.

22.

The area inside the city wall was originally about 5–6 acres (John Garstang, “The Walls of Jericho. The Marston-Melchett Expedition of 1931,” PEFQS 1931, p. 186; “Jericho: City and Necropolis,” LAAA 19, p. 3), while the total area, including the fortification system, was approximately twice that, or 10–12 acres (John Garstang, “The Walls of Jericho,” p. 187, and “Jericho: City and Necropolis,” LAAA 19, p. 3; Kenyon, “Jericho,” EAEHL, p. 550 [4 hectares = 9.9 acres]). Magen Broshi and Ram Gophna list the size of the site as 1.5 ha (3.7 acres; Broshi and Gophna, “Middle Bronze Age II Palestine: Its Settlements and Population,” BASOR 261 [1986], Table 4), but this is no doubt the estimated size of the site as it is today. A considerable portion of the tell was removed in the construction of the reservoir and the modern road.

23.

Kenyon, “Jericho,” AOTS, p. 271.

24.

Kenyon, “Palestine in the Middle Bronze Age,” in CAH3, pp. 92–93; “Jericho,” EAEHL, p. 563.

25.

Kenyon, “Jericho,” AOTS, p. 272; “Palestine in the Time of the Eighteenth Dynasty,” CAH3, p. 528.

26.

Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho, p. 229; “Palestine in the Time of the Eighteenth Dynasty, CAH3, p. 528; Archaeology in the Holy Land, pp. 177, 180.

27.

James Hoffmeier, “Reconsidering Egypt’s Part in the Termination of the Middle Bronze Age in Palestine,” Levant 21 (1989), pp. 181–193.

28.

John Garstang, “The Walls of Jericho. The Marston-Melchett Expedition,” pp. 193–194; “Jericho: City and Necropolis,” LAAA 21, 123, 128, 129; “The Fall of Bronze Age Jericho,” p. 66; “Jericho and the Biblical Story,” p. 1218. Kenyon, Archaeology in the Holy Land, p. 171; Jericho 3, pp. 369–370; Digging Up Jericho, p. 230.

29.

J. A. Wilson, “Egyptian Historical Texts,” Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament (ANET), ed. James B. Pritchard (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 3rd ed., 1969), p. 233.

30.

Wilson, “Egyptian Historical Texts,” p. 238.

31.

John Garstang, “The Walls of Jericho,” pp. 193–194.

32.

Yigael Yadin et al., Hazor I, An Account of the First Season of Excavations, 1955 (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1958), p. 104; Ruth Amiran, Ancient Pottery of the Holy Land (Pottery) (Jerusalem: Masada, 1969), p. 135.

33.

Garstang recognized the chronological significance of this bowl and correctly dated it to the 15th century B.C.E. (“Jericho: City and Necropolis,” LAAA 21, p. 121). It is the common bowl of Ashdod stratum XVII (Moshe Dothan, Ashdod 2–3: The Second and Third Seasons of Excavations, 1963, 1965, Antiqot 9–10 [English Series, 1971], p. 81) and Hazor stratum 2 (Yadin et al., Hazor 2: An Account of the Second Season of Excavations, 1956 [Jerusalem: Magnes, 1960], p. 94; Yadin, Hazor: The Head of All Those Kingdoms, Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1970 [London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1972], p. 32).

34.

The majority of Garstang’s tell pottery remains unpublished. It was distributed to supporting museums and institutions in Britain and Europe. The largest collection is at Garstang’s home institution, the University of Liverpool. I have examined the known collections and found additional examples of LB I forms.

I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to Annie Caubet, conservator in chief, Marielle Pic and Patrick Pouys-segur, of the Dépt. des Antiquitiés Orientales, Musée du Louvre, for their kind assistance in making the necessary arrangements for me to examine the Jericho material in their collection. Travel funds for this examination were provided by a National Endow ment for the Humanities grant and the generosity of members and friends of the Assoc. for Biblical Research, Willow Grove, PA.

35.

Inverted-rim bowls with a beveled outer edge and chocolate-on-white ware begin appearing with regularity in this phase (Jericho 4, figs. 104:3; 105:4, 18; Jericho 5, figs. 168:1, 9, 15; 169:6). They are both diagnostic types for the MB III period (Lawrence E. Toombs and Wright, “The Fourth Campaign at Balatah [Shechem],” BASOR 169 [1963], p. 51; Amiran, Pottery, pp. 158–159; Joe D. Seger, “Two Pottery Groups of Middle Bronze Shechem,” in Wright, Shechem: Biography of a Biblical City [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965], p. 236; Seger, “The Middle Bronze II C Date of the East Gate at Shechem,” Levant 6 [1974], pp. 123, 130; J. B. Hennesy, “Chocolate-on-White Ware at Pella,” Palestine in the Bronze and Iron Ages: Papers in Honour of Olga Tufnell, ed. Jonathan N. Tubb (London: Institute of Archaeology, 1985]).)

36.

Kenyon, Jericho 3, pp. 354–370.

37.

Based on the ceramic evidence, I would suggest reassigning Phases 44 to 52 to the LB I period.

38.

Garstang and Garstang, The Story of Jericho, p. 126.

39.

Kenyon, Jericho 5, p. 763, sample BM-1790.

40.

Amos Nur, quoted in “The Stanford Earth Scientist,” pull out section of the Stanford Observer (Stanford Univ. News Service) November 1988, p. 5.

41.

Garstang and Garstang, The Story of Jericho, pp. 139–140; John Garstang Joshua, Judges (reprinted Grand Rapids, Ml: Kregel, 1978), pp. 136–137.

42.

Sellin and Watzinger, Jericho, p. 58.

43.

Kenyon found the foundations for this wall from phase one of the three phases of the defensive system. It was about 7 feet wide and she was able to trace it for about 16 feet (Digging Up Jericho, p. 216; Jericho 3, pp. 374–375).

44.

Kenyon, Jericho 3, p. 110. It is also possible that the bricks could have come from a parapet wall atop the stone revetment wall, if one existed at this point.

45.

Kenyon, Jericho 3, p. 110.

46.

The Austro-German team and Garstang also found evidence of collapsed bricks at the base of the revetment wall (Sellin and Watzinger Jericho Abb. [Figure] 35.6; John Garstang, “Jericho: Sir Charles Marston’s Expedition,” p. 128).

47.

I am grateful to William H. Shea for this observation.

48.

John Garstang, “Jericho: City and Necropolis,” LAAA 21, pp. 105, 126; “The Fall of Bronze Age Jericho,” PEFQS 1935, p. 67; “Jericho and the Biblical Story,” p. 1219; Garstang and Garstang, The Story of Jericho, pp. 122–123; Kenyon, Jericho 3, p. 370.

49.

Nur, quoted in “The Stanford Earth Scientist,” p. 5.

50.

Sellin and Watzinger, Jericho, Taf. (Plan) III.

51.

John Garstang, “The Walls of Jericho. The Marston-Melchett Expedition,” p. 192; “Jericho: City and Necropolis,” LAAA 21, pp. 122–123 “The Fall of Bronze Age Jericho,” p. 68; “Jericho and the Biblical Story,” p. 1220; Garstang and Garstang, The Story of Jericho, p. 123. Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho, p. 232; Archaeology in the Holy Land, pp. 171, 181–182; Jericho 3, pp. 368–370.

52.

It is clear that the destruction continued beyond the excavation area, since erosion debris from upslope was colored brown, black and red by the burnt material it contained (Kenyon, Archaeology in the Holy Land, p. 182).

53.

Kenyon, Jericho 3, p. 370.

54.

John Garstang, “The Walls of Jericho. The Marston-Melchett Expedition,” pp. 193–194; “Jericho: City and Necropolis,” LAAA 21, 123, 128, 129; “The Fall of Bronze Age Jericho,” p. 66; “Jericho and the Biblical Story,” p. 1218. Kenyon, Archaeology in the Holy Land, p. 171; Jericho 3, pp. 369–370.

55.

Kenyon, Digging Up Jericho, p. 230.

56.

I am indebted to David Dorsey for calling this prohibition to my attention.