Jericho Complete

Description

Positioned where significant travel corridors intersect, Jericho also lies at an extraordinary elevation of 258 metres below sea level. Set along the desert’s edge, the settlement drew abundant water from the Ein-es-Sultan spring, and ancient writers already remarked on the area’s exceptional agricultural productivity. Reports of fortifications dating back to the pre-pottery Neolithic have led to its frequent characterization as the earliest urban center in the world. For treatments of Jericho’s archaeology and history through the Byzantine era and earlier, consult the works listed below. Further reading: CIIP IV, “XLIX Jericho – Introduction” Foerster, G., Hachlil, R., Kenyon, K.M., Netzer, E. 1993. “Jericho,” in The New Encyclopedia of Archeological Excavations in the Holy Land, 674–698.