The Discovery & Dating of Jericho

By Aaron

August 31, 2004

In 1868 Charles Warren discovered the es-Sultan Tell. But it was not until 1929 when John Garstang studied the Tell that Jericho was dated. The Tell contained four cities; the bottom of these was Jericho. Garstang dug into the Tell and started to study artifacts from the bottom most city. He discovered the oldest know antiquities from Palestine, over 100,000 pottery shards, and tombs. In the tombs where scarabs. The scarabs had names of Egyptian kings that are known to have lived around 1400 BC. He also dated the pieces of pottery and thought that they were from 1400 BC as well. But to confirm these dates, he called in three top archaeologists: Clareme Fisher, Pere Vincent, and Alan Rowe. Each of these people dated the artifacts independently and came up with the dates 1400 BC and 1377 BC.

Garstang also uncovered charred remains of walls matching what the Bible says in Joshua 6:24 that the city was burnt. The walls had crumbled in spots showing how the Israelites could have entered the city (Joshua 6:20). This dating corresponded well with the chronology given in 1 Kings 6:1.

Some more supporting evidence for Garstang’s dates comes when we look at the history of the Israelites. They left Egypt at 1437 BC, then wandered in the desert for forty years. After wandering in the desert they crossed the Jordan River and defeated Jericho. Add the times together, 1437 and 40, we get 1397 BC for Jericho’s fall. That is just three years off from when Garstang thought Jericho existed.

But Garstang’s research did not satisfy biblical skeptics, so in 1952 England sent Miss Kathleen Kenyon to head up an archaeological team. She went to Palestine and found two other small older cities on the northeast end of Jericho. Using radiocarbon dating she dated these cities three times. From these three datings Jericho could have existed anytime from 5850 to 8350 BC. She said that because Carbon 14 dating was not yet proven to work and because of the huge range of dates, that the actual age of Jericho would remain unknown.

Later Kenyon found the remains of pottery broken upon the floor of what was thought to be a kitchen on the site of Garstang’s Jericho. She said these could have shattered when the people fled, dropping their pots, upon hearing the trumpets from Joshua’s army. Although initially Kenyon had refused to believe Garstang’s dates, and was heard saying that Garstang was wrong, later in life Kenyon said that there was too much evidence supporting Garstang, and that he was probably right after all.