PREHISTORIC JERICHO 

Prehistoric Burial

If you stand on the excavated tel at Jericho, you'll be on top of one of the most ancient settlements in the world. There were people here as early as 9,000BC, long before any of the great civilizations flourished.

Mind you, it was just a village. But the site had potential:

• an abundant water supply
• good climate 
• a central location.   

 It flourished.

Then suddenly in about 5,000BC the settlement died. There is no explanation - the people simply vanished.

Later, it reappeared. Location, location.

What is a city? What is a village?

Now it became more like a city, with mud brick walls 2 to 6 meters thick and projecting semicircular towers. The only way in or out was through a single gate with defensive towers flanking either side.

Inside the walls were houses of varying shapes and sizes, with temples and food stores. All the houses were accessible via narrow alley-ways the width of a loaded donkey.

The image at left is a reconstruction of an ancient village. Click on it and you'll also see a drawing of Catal Hüyük in Turkey, circa 6,000BC. This gives you some idea of the way that houses were packed together.

What were the houses like inside?  The archaeological term is a 'wide-room house'. The entrance from the street was in the shorter wall down two steps - so the floor you stepped onto was slightly below ground level. Benches ran along the walls. Niches in the walls acted as storage shelves.  has a photo of an excavated 'wide-room' at Jericho.

This basic structure was enlarged by adding annexes and side-rooms.

By modern standards it was unbearably small, stuffy and crowded. To a Neolithic family, it was home.

Then in the 15th century BC the city was once more destroyed. There is evidence of fire, destruction and demolition.

              Who did it, and why?

EXTRA WEBSITES BIBLE BUILDINGS - The top ten buildings in ancient Israel?  TOP TEN: VILLAINS - Herod, who murdered most of his family BIBLE PEOPLE: HEROD - What drove this demented king?  ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE - What happened to Jericho later?