(Gray sign posted on Tel Sultan-- Jericho 2011 after Italian excavations)

Middle Bronze Age City Defensive Wall -- Jericho, April 13, 2011

The University of Rome 1997 - 2010 (Sapienza) excavations revealed part of the stone Middle Bronze Age III (1650 BC -1550 BC) wall defending Jericho.  The stone wall foundations were dug below earlier Middle Bronze Age mud brick structures and cut through them.  The excavations were in the south side of the mound in Area A. To date there is no evidence of a Late Bronze Age walled city. This stone revetment project was part of the last wall construction phase in Jericho as the city was destroyed c. 1550 during the Hyksos era. These findings have cast doubt on the Biblical story of Joshua and the conquest of Jericho. Earlier Biblical fundamentalists thought the Joshua conquest might have happened in 1200 BC. Later archaeologists and historians research indicated Joshua could not have destroyed all the cities on his list as some were not occupied in the same generation. There is evidence for a small settlement in the vicinity during the Late Bronze Age during the era when the Egyptians operated in the region. There were a few Egyptian New Kingdom scarabs found in tombs adjacent to the mound and very little Late Bronze Age pottery.    

Walls of Jericho Seen in 2011

MBA Walls of Jericho after the Sellin-Watzinger Expedition

Aerial View of Jericho

University of Rome Jericho Expeditions Web Site 1997-2000, 2009-2010 Excavation Reports

^{Israel Photos III - Old Jericho}