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66-481: The site is located in a fertile river valley that has been an important trade route; a railway still runs between the present-day village and the tell, transecting the neolithic site. The tell lies between the current village and the Quweiq river to the east, and its summit is measured at 444 m above sea level; the neolithic site extends to the south and lies about 20m lower (Mazurowski p. 12,p. 20). A survey in

132-431: A shrine . It contained a niche in the wall. A chipped pillar of volcanic stone that was found nearby might have fitted into this niche. 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 contained seven skulls. The jaws were removed and

198-461: A central courtyard. There is one big room (6.5 m × 4 m (21.3  ft × 13.1 ft) and 7 m × 3 m (23.0  ft × 9.8 ft)) 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. Kathleen Kenyon interpreted one building as

264-429: A few ground-stone axes made of greenstone. Other items discovered included dishes and bowls carved from soft limestone, spindle whorls made of stone and possible loom weights, spatulae and drills, stylised anthropomorphic plaster figures, almost life-size, anthropomorphic and theriomorphic clay figurines, as well as shell and malachite beads. In the late 4th millennium BCE, Jericho was occupied during Neolithic 2 and

330-500: A hole through the copper like with other stone beads, but technology was not yet sufficiently advanced to process metal (Mazurowski 2012 p. 80; Plate 137A p. 280 ). Remains of 20 individuals have been excavated, all adults: this may indicate that burial practice for infants and children was different, at another (as yet undiscovered) location or treated with less regard. Most bodies had their head removed, either by cutting shortly after death (as indicated by cut marks, and having

396-542: A hundred men more than a hundred days to construct, thus suggesting some kind of social organization. The town contained round mud-brick houses, yet no street planning. The identity and number of the inhabitants of Jericho during the PPNA period is still under debate, with estimates going as high as 2,000–3,000, and as low as 200–300. It is known that this population had domesticated emmer wheat , barley and pulses and hunted wild animals. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)

462-457: A hunting lifestyle until the PPNB period, but granaries allowed for year-round occupation. This period of cultivation is considered "pre- domestication ", but may have begun to develop plant species into the domesticated forms they are today. Deliberate, extended-period storage was made possible by the use of "suspended floors for air circulation and protection from rodents". This practice "precedes

528-629: A pre-Neolithic diet. Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Pre-Pottery Neolithic A ( PPNA ) denotes the first stage of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic , in early Levantine and Anatolian Neolithic culture, dating to c.  12,000  – c.  10,800 years ago, that is, 10,000–8800 BCE. Archaeological remains are located in the Levantine and Upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent . The time period

594-580: A role in putting down the Bar Kochba revolt in 133. Accounts of Jericho by a Christian pilgrim are given in 333. Shortly thereafter the built-up area of the town was abandoned and a Byzantine Jericho, Ericha , was built 1600 metres (1 mi) to the east, on which the modern town is centered. Christianity took hold in the city during the Byzantine era and the area was heavily populated. A number of monasteries and churches were built, including

660-605: A swimming pool at the Hasmonean royal winter palaces , as described by the Roman Jewish historian Josephus , took place during a banquet organized by Herod's Hasmonean mother-in-law. After the construction of the palaces, the city had functioned not only as an agricultural center and as a crossroad, but also as a winter resort for Jerusalem 's aristocracy. Herod was succeeded in Judea by his son, Herod Archelaus , who built

726-509: A transition between the proto-Neolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A cultures. However the remains of the structures uncovered at Tell Qaramel appear to be older than this, giving the first evidence of permanent stone-built settlement. The site is roughly contemporary to that of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. The archeologists distinguish a preliminary epipaleolithic phase (Horizon 0) attested mostly by flint tools but no certain carbon samples. For

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792-564: A village in his name not far to the north, Archelaïs (modern Khirbet al-Beiyudat), to house workers for his date plantation. First-century Jericho is described in Strabo 's Geography as follows: Jericho is a plain surrounded by a kind of mountainous country, which in a way, slopes toward it like a theatre. Here is the Phoenicon , which is mixed also with all kinds of cultivated and fruitful trees, though it consists mostly of palm trees. It

858-513: Is 100 stadia in length and is everywhere watered with streams. Here also are the Palace and the Balsam Park. The Christian Gospels state that Jesus of Nazareth passed through Jericho where he healed blind beggars ( Matthew 20:29 ), and inspired a local chief tax collector named Zacchaeus to repent of his dishonest practices ( Luke 19:1–10 ). The road between Jerusalem and Jericho is

924-500: Is a 40,000 square metres (430,000 sq ft) settlement surrounded by a massive stone wall over 3.6 metres (12 ft) high and 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) wide at the base, inside of which stood a stone tower, over 8.5 metres (28 ft) high, containing an internal staircase with 22 stone steps and placed in the centre of the west side of the tell. This tower and the even older ones excavated at Tell Qaramel in Syria are

990-648: Is a city in the West Bank , Palestine ; it is the administrative seat of the Jericho Governorate of Palestine. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley , with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. In 2017, it had a population of 20,907. From the end of the era of Mandatory Palestine , the city was annexed and ruled by Jordan from 1949 to 1967 and, with the rest of

1056-400: Is characterized by tiny circular mud-brick dwellings, the cultivation of crops, the hunting of wild game, and unique burial customs in which bodies were buried below the floors of dwellings. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) were originally defined by Kathleen Kenyon in the type site of Jericho , State of Palestine . During this time, pottery

1122-622: The Israelites in the Promised Land . Archaeological excavations have failed to find traces of a fortified city at the site during the relevant time, the 13th century BCE at the end of the Bronze Age. In fact, the current consensus among scholars is that Jericho was unoccupied from the late 15th century until the 10th/9th centuries BCE, although this has been questioned by recent excavations. Tell es-Sultan remained unoccupied from

1188-582: The Monastery of Saint George of Choziba in 340 CE and a domed church dedicated to Saint Eliseus . At least two synagogues were also built in the 6th century CE. The monasteries were abandoned after the Sasanian invasion of 614 . The Jericho synagogue in the Royal Maccabean winter palace at Jericho dates from 70 to 50 BCE. A synagogue dating to the late 6th or early 7th century CE

1254-625: The Younger Dryas period of cold and drought, permanent habitation of any one location was impossible. However, the Ein es-Sultan spring at what would become Jericho was a popular camping ground for Natufian hunter-gatherer groups, who left a scattering of crescent-shaped microlith tools behind them. Around 9600 BCE, the droughts and cold of the Younger Dryas stadial had come to an end, making it possible for Natufian groups to extend

1320-726: The "oldest fortified city in the world". Jericho's name in Modern Hebrew , Yeriẖo , is generally thought to derive from the Canaanite word rēḥ ' fragrant ' , but other theories hold that it originates in the Canaanite word Yaraḥ ' moon ' or the name of the lunar deity Yarikh , for whom the city was an early centre of worship. Jericho's Arabic name, Arīḥā , means ' fragrant ' and also has its roots in Canaanite Reaẖ . The first excavations of

1386-411: The 1st vertebra remain with the skull), or after decay (leaving the vertebrae and lower mandible with the skeleton). This indicates a head cult, as is also attested in other pre-pottery Neolithic sites (notably Jericho , Tell Aswad , and Cayonu ). While in some skulls teeth showed wear and caries, which is typical for a diet with carbohydrates from grain, others were in good condition, which may indicate

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1452-526: The Bronze Age and Iron Age. It is this area that has been the focus of detailed investigation since 1999 by a joint Polish-Syrian team led by Ryszard F. Mazurowski of Warsaw University and Dr.Youssef Kanjou from Aleppo Museum ( https://uni-tzuebingen.academia.edu/DrYoussefKanjou ) under the auspices of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw . Thus far about six areas have been investigated and four excavated: only about 1.5% of

1518-503: The C14 analyses, with other laboratories, showed differences in either direction. Particularly striking are the remains of a succession of five round stone structures which the excavators recognise as the remains of towers (Mazurowski et al. 2012 pp. 48..52 ). The lower, oldest one was about 6 m in diameter and appears to have had some communal function, having an elevated hearth at the center with two benches centered on it. The fourth phase

1584-559: The Italian-Palestinian archaeological project of excavation and restoration was resumed by Rome " La Sapienza " University and Palestinian MOTA-DACH under the direction of Lorenzo Nigro and Hamdan Taha, and Jehad Yasine since 2015. The Italian-Palestinian Expedition carried out 13 seasons in 20 years (1997–2017), with some major discoveries, like Tower A1 in the Middle Bronze Age southern Lower Town and Palace G on

1650-584: The Middle East and Anatolia . Jericho is the type site for the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) periods. Epipaleolithic construction at the site appears to predate the invention of agriculture , with the construction of Natufian culture structures beginning earlier than 9000 BCE, the beginning of the Holocene epoch in geologic history. Jericho has evidence of settlement dating back to 10,000 BCE. During

1716-522: The PPNB period, skulls were often dug up and reburied, or mottled with clay and (presumably) displayed. The lithic industry is based on blades struck from regular cores . Sickle -blades and arrowheads continue traditions from the late Natufian culture , transverse-blow axes and polished adzes appear for the first time. Sedentism of this time allowed for the cultivation of local grains, such as barley and wild oats , and for storage in granaries . Sites such as Dhra′ and Jericho retained

1782-623: The West Bank, has been subject to Israeli occupation since 1967; administrative control was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994. Jericho is among the oldest cities in the world , and it is also the city with the oldest known defensive wall . Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho, the first of which dates back 11,000 years (to 9000 BCE), almost to

1848-522: The accuracy of the stratigraphical dating c. 1550. There was evidence of a small settlement in the Late Bronze Age ( c. 1400s BCE) on the site, but erosion and destruction from previous excavations have erased significant parts of this layer. The Hebrew Bible tells the story of the Battle of Jericho led by Joshua , leading to the fall of the Canaanite city, the first one captured by

1914-535: The area. The new site consists of a group of low mounds on both banks of Wadi Qelt . The Hasmoneans were a dynasty descending from a priestly group ( kohanim ) from the tribe of Levi , who ruled over Judea following the success of the Maccabean Revolt until Roman influence over the region brought Herod to claim the Hasmonean throne. The rock-cut tombs of a Herodian- and Hasmonean-era cemetery lie in

1980-418: The buildings, and almost every settlement contained storage bins made of either stones or mud-brick. As of 2013 Gesher , modern Israel, became the earliest known of all known Neolithic sites (PPNA), with a calibrated Carbon 14 date of 10,459 BCE ± 348 years, analysis suggesting that it may have been the starting point of a Neolithic Revolution . A contemporary site is Mureybet in modern Syria . One of

2046-522: The control of households or individuals. It has been observed of these granaries that their "sophisticated storage systems with subfloor ventilation are a precocious development that precedes the emergence of almost all of the other elements of the Near Eastern Neolithic package—domestication, large scale sedentary communities, and the entrenchment of some degree of social differentiation". Moreover, "building granaries may [...] have been

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2112-466: The descendant of Rahab did not disdain the hospitality of Zacchaeus the publican . Finally, between Jerusalem and Jericho was laid the scene of his story of the good Samaritan." After the fall of Jerusalem to Vespasian's armies in the Great Revolt of Judea in 70 CE, Jericho declined rapidly, and by 100 CE it was but a small Roman garrison town. A fort was built there in 130 and played

2178-674: The duration of their stay, eventually leading to year-round habitation and permanent settlement. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic at Jericho is divided in Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. The first permanent settlement on the site of Jericho developed near the Ein es-Sultan spring between 9,500 and 9000 BCE. As the world warmed up, a new culture based on agriculture and sedentary dwelling emerged, which archaeologists have termed " Pre-Pottery Neolithic A " (abbreviated as PPNA). Its cultures lacked pottery, but featured

2244-526: The eastern flanks of the Spring Hill overlooking the Spring of 'Ain es-Sultan dating from Early Bronze III. The earliest excavated settlement was located at the present-day Tell es-Sultan (or Sultan's Hill), a couple of kilometers from the current city. In both Arabic and Hebrew, tell means "mound" – consecutive layers of habitation built up a mound over time, as is common for ancient settlements in

2310-547: The elaborate funeral offerings in some of these may reflect the emergence of local kings. During the Middle Bronze Age, Jericho was a small prominent city of the Canaan region, reaching its greatest Bronze Age extent in the period from 1700 to 1550 BCE. It seems to have reflected the greater urbanization in the area at that time, and has been linked to the rise of the Maryannu , a class of chariot-using aristocrats linked to

2376-449: The emergence of domestication and large-scale sedentary communities by at least 1,000 years". Granaries are positioned in places between other buildings early on c.  11,500 BP, however, beginning around 10,500 BP, they were moved inside houses, and by 9,500 BP storage occurred in special rooms. This change might reflect changing systems of ownership and property as granaries shifted from communal use and ownership to become under

2442-600: The end of the 15th to the 10th–9th centuries BCE, when the city was rebuilt. Of this new city not much more remains than a four-room house on the eastern slope. By the 7th century, Jericho had become an extensive town, but this settlement was destroyed in the Babylonian conquest of Judah in the late 6th century . After the destruction of the Judahite city by the Babylonians in the late 6th century, whatever

2508-456: The entire site (Mazurowski p. 18). After 2011 the excavations have been suspended due to the civil war in Syria . Before the excavations began, it was assumed that permanent sedentary settlements would occur only in combination with the first farming of cereals, and the first domestication and keeping of animals such as sheep and goats, marking the start of the Neolithic period, part of

2574-474: The faces covered with plaster; cowries were used as eyes. A total of ten skulls were found. Modelled skulls were found in Tell Ramad and Beisamoun as well. Other finds included flints, such as arrowheads (tanged or side-notched), finely denticulated sickle-blades, burins , scrapers, a few tranchet axes , obsidian , and green obsidian from an unknown source. There were also querns , hammerstones, and

2640-404: The following: 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 (16 ft) across, and was roofed with mud-smeared brush. Hearths were located within and outside the homes. The Pre-Sultan ( c.  8350 – 7370 BCE) is sometimes called Sultanian . The site

2706-563: The general character of the remains on the site link it culturally with Neolithic 2 (or PPNB) sites in the West Syrian and Middle Euphrates groups. This link is established by the presence of rectilinear mud-brick buildings and plaster floors that are characteristic of the age. A succession of settlements followed from 4500 BCE onward. In Early Bronze I, the strategraphic layers are Sultan IIIA1 (EB IA, c. 3500-3200 BCE) and Sultan IIIA2 (EB IB, c. 3200-3000 BCE). In Early Bronze II,

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2772-481: The late 1970s found evidence of settlement at the site from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period through to the Hellenistic period. The later phases of occupation are closely associated with the mound of the tell itself. The pre-pottery Neolithic phase however is associated with a wider area of about 3.5 hectares, extending to the south and south-west of the tell and covered by up to 2.5 m of later deposits through

2838-463: The lowest part of the cliffs between Nuseib al-Aweishireh and Mount of Temptation . They date between 100 BCE and 68 CE. Herod had to lease back the royal estate at Jericho from Cleopatra , after Mark Antony had given it to her as a gift. After their joint suicide in 30 BCE, Octavian assumed control of the Roman Empire and granted Herod absolute rule over Jericho, as part of

2904-565: The mosaic. The Na'aran synagogue, another Byzantine era construction, was discovered on the northern outskirts of Jericho in 1918. While less is known of it than Shalom Al Yisrael, it has a larger mosaic and is in similar condition. Jericho, by then named "Ariha" in Arabic variation, became part of Jund Filastin ("Military District of Palestine"), part of the larger province of Bilad al-Sham . The Arab Muslim historian Musa b. 'Uqba (died 758) recorded that caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab exiled

2970-472: The most important feature in increasing sedentism that required active community participation in new life-ways". With more sites becoming known, archaeologists have defined a number of regional variants of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A: Jericho Jericho ( / ˈ dʒ ɛr ɪ k oʊ / JERR -ik-oh ; Arabic : أريحا , romanized :  Arīḥā , IPA: [ʔaˈriːħaː] ; Hebrew : יְרִיחוֹ , romanized :  Yərīḥō )

3036-453: The most notable PPNA settlements is Jericho , thought to be the world's first town ( c.  9,000 BCE). The PPNA town contained a population of up to 2–3000 people and was protected by a massive stone wall and tower. There is much debate over the function of the wall, for there is no evidence of any serious warfare at this time. One possibility is the wall was built to protect the salt resources of Jericho. It has also been proposed that

3102-515: The new Herodian domain. Herod's rule oversaw the construction of a hippodrome -theatre ( Tell es-Samrat ) to entertain his guests and new aqueducts to irrigate the area below the cliffs and reach his winter palaces built at the site of Tulul Abu el-Alaiq (also written ʾAlayiq ). In 2008, the Israel Exploration Society published an illustrated volume of Herod's third Jericho palace. The murder of Aristobulus III in

3168-471: The oldest known tower structure in the world. Among the ornaments found was a rather large (52×40×26 mm) polished copper nugget from Horizon 2 - one of the earliest finds of metal in an archeological site. As malachite (copper carbonate) has been excavated too in Tell Qaramel, the copper nugget may have been collected from the (as yet unidentified) malachite source. An attempt had been made to drill

3234-453: The oldest towers ever to be discovered. The wall of Jericho may have served as a defence against flood-water, with the tower used for ceremonial purposes. The wall and tower were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period around 8000 BCE. For the tower, carbon dates published in 1981 and 1983 indicate that it was built around 8300 BCE and stayed in use until c.  7800 BCE . The wall and tower would have taken

3300-667: The private estate of Alexander the Great between 336 and 323 BCE after his conquest of the region. In the middle of the 2nd century BCE Jericho was under Hellenistic rule of the Seleucid Empire , when the Syrian General Bacchides built a number of forts to strengthen the defences of the area around Jericho against the revolt by the Macabees . One of these forts, built at the entrance to Wadi Qelt ,

3366-493: The proto-neolithic and PPNA, and "Late Aceramic Neolithic" for PPNB and PPNC. The dating is not without problems. The archeologists rejected several samples because the radiocarbon dates were inconsistent with the stratigraphy, but also otherwise the very early dates at Tell Qaramel appear too old as compared to dating of similar cultural phases at other sites. Comparison of the laboratory in Gliwice, Poland (code Gd) that executed

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3432-594: The rise of the Mitannite state to the north. Kathleen Kenyon reported "the Middle Bronze Age is perhaps the most prosperous in the whole history of Kna'an. ... The defenses ... belong to a fairly advanced date in that period" and there was "a massive stone revetment ... part of a complex system" of defenses. Bronze Age Jericho fell in the 16th century at the end of the Middle Bronze Age, the calibrated carbon remains from its City-IV destruction layer dating to 1617–1530 BCE. Carbon dating c. 1573 BCE confirmed

3498-578: The setting for the Parable of the Good Samaritan . John Wesley , in his New Testament Notes on this section of Luke's Gospel , claimed that "about twelve thousand priests and Levites dwelt there, who all attended the service of the temple ". Smith 's Bible Names Dictionary suggests that "Jericho was once more 'a city of palms' when our Lord visited it. Here he restored sight to the blind ( Matthew 20:30 ; Mark 10:46 ; Luke 18:35 ). Here

3564-416: The site were made by Charles Warren in 1868. Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger excavated Tell es-Sultan and Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq between 1907 and 1909, and in 1911, and John Garstang excavated between 1930 and 1936. Extensive investigations using more modern techniques were made by Kathleen Kenyon between 1952 and 1958. Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolò Marchetti conducted excavations in 1997–2000. Since 2009

3630-489: The strategraphic layers are Sultan IIIB1 (EB IIA, c. 3000-2850 BCE) and Sultan IIIB2 (EB IIB, c. 2850-2700 BCE). In the Early Bronze IIIA ( c.  2700 – 2500/2450 BCE; Sultan IIIC1), the settlement reached its largest extent around 2600 BCE. During Early Bronze IIIB ( c.  2500 /2450–2350 BCE; Sultan IIIC2) there was a Palace G on Spring Hill and city walls. In Early Bronze IV,

3696-520: The strategraphic layers are Sultan IIID1 (EB IVA; 2300-2200 BCE) and Sultan IIID2 (EB IVB; 2200-2000 BCE). Jericho was continually occupied into the Middle Bronze Age ; it was destroyed in the Late Bronze Age, after which it no longer served as an urban centre. The city was surrounded by extensive defensive walls strengthened with rectangular towers, and possessed an extensive cemetery with vertical shaft-tombs and underground burial chambers;

3762-506: The subsequent settlement they recognise 4 Early Aceramic Neolithic layers (Horizon 1 to 4) which according to radiocarbon dating have been partially overlapping (contemporary). The excavators find an unbroken development (in contrast to e.g. in Jericho in the southern Levant ) so are skeptical about the common division in " Pre-Pottery Neolithic A " and " Pre-Pottery Neolithic B " phases, instead preferring "Early Aceramic Neolithic" for

3828-444: The tower caught the shadow of the largest nearby mountain on summer solstice in order to create a sense of power in support of whatever hierarchy ruled the town's inhabitants. PPNA cultures are unique for their burial practices, and Kenyon (who excavated the PPNA level of Jericho) characterized them as "living with their dead". Kenyon found no fewer than 279 burials, below floors, under household foundations, and in between walls. In

3894-644: The very beginning of the Holocene epoch of the Earth's history. Copious springs in and around the city have attracted human habitation for thousands of years. Jericho is described in the Bible as the "city of palm trees". In 2023, the archaeological site in the center of the city, known as Tell es-Sultan / Old Jericho , was inscribed in UNESCO 's list as a World Heritage Site in the State of Palestine, and described as

3960-664: The work of an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant culture. Artifacts dating from this period include ten plastered human skulls , painted so as to reconstitute the individuals' features. These represent either teraphim or the first example of portraiture in art history , and it is thought that they were kept in people's homes while the bodies were buried. The architecture consisted of rectilinear buildings made of mudbricks on stone foundations. The mudbricks were loaf-shaped with deep thumb prints to facilitate bonding. No building has been excavated in its entirety. Normally, several rooms cluster around

4026-446: Was a period of about 1.4 millennia, from 7220 to 5850 BCE (though carbon-14 -dates are few and early). The following are PPNB cultural features: After a few centuries, the first settlement was abandoned. After the PPNA settlement phase, there was a settlement hiatus of several centuries, then the PPNB settlement was founded on the eroded surface of the tell . This second settlement, established in 6800 BCE, perhaps represents

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4092-563: Was discovered in Jericho in 1936, and was named Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue, or "peace unto Israel", after the central Hebrew motto in its mosaic floor. It was controlled by Israel after the Six Day War, but after the handover to Palestinian Authority control per the Oslo Accords , it has been a source of conflict. On the night of 12 October 2000, the synagogue was vandalized by Palestinians who burned holy books and relics and damaged

4158-520: Was later refortified by Herod the Great , who named it Kypros after his mother. After the abandonment of the Tell es-Sultan location, the new Jericho of the Late Hellenistic or Hasmonean and Early Roman or Herodian periods was established as a garden city in the vicinity of the royal estate at Tulul Abu el-'Alayiq and expanded greatly thanks to the intensive exploitation of the springs of

4224-418: Was most massive, at about 7.5m in diameter with stone walls of about 2.25 m thick; it had no internal structure. It was damaged by fire and rebuilt, and may have been a defensive structure. The earliest phase has been carbon-dated to between the eleventh millennium and 9670 BC. This dating makes the structure roughly two millennia older than the stone tower found at Jericho , which was previously believed to be

4290-820: Was not yet in use. They precede the ceramic Neolithic Yarmukian culture . PPNA succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic Near East . PPNA archaeological sites are much larger than those of the preceding Natufian hunter-gatherer culture, and contain traces of communal structures, such as the famous Tower of Jericho . PPNA settlements are characterized by round, semi-subterranean houses with stone foundations and terrazzo -floors. The upper walls were constructed of unbaked clay mudbricks with plano-convex cross-sections. The hearths were small and covered with cobbles. Heated rocks were used in cooking, which led to an accumulation of fire-cracked rock in

4356-624: Was rebuilt in the Persian period as part of the Restoration after the Babylonian captivity , left only very few remains. The tell was abandoned as a place of settlement not long after this period. During the Persian through Hellenistic periods, there is little in terms of occupation attested throughout the region. Jericho went from being an administrative centre of Yehud Medinata ("the Province of Judah") under Persian rule to serving as

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