What archaeological evidence supports the historical accuracy of Joshua 6:11? Joshua 6 : 11 “So he had the ark of the LORD circle the city, going around it once. Then they returned to camp and spent the night there.” Historical Setting of the Text Joshua 6 situates Israel immediately after the Jordan crossing, in the springtime barley harvest (Joshua 3 : 15; 5 : 10–12). That date intersects the conservative Exodus chronology (1446 BC) and the entry into Canaan (1406 BC). The city of Jericho—Tell es-Sultan today—was a fortified nine-acre mound commanding the Jordan rift, nourished by the perennial ‘Ain es-Sultan spring. A population of perhaps 1,500–2,000 lived inside a casemate-and-mudbrick double wall. Scripture places the Ark, priests, and armed men in a single circuit of the walls on each of six days, a seventh-day series of seven circuits, trumpet blasts, a collective shout, and a sudden wall collapse (Joshua 6 : 4–21). Archaeology now provides concrete correlates for each element. Major Excavations at Tell es-Sultan • Ernst Sellin & Carl Watzinger (1907–1909) opened the German trenches that first revealed an early Bronze revetment and a Late Bronze destruction burn. • John Garstang (1930–1936) exposed most of the north and west ramparts. He concluded, “In a word: The walls fell, and the city was burned about 1400 BC.” • Kathleen Kenyon (1952–1958) refined field stratigraphy and reattributed the burn layer to the end of the Middle Bronze. • Bryant Wood (1985–present) re-examined all pottery, scarabs, stratigraphy, and the Kenyon radiocarbon numbers, demonstrating that City IV’s fall dates to c. 1400 BC, Late Bronze I, in perfect harmony with the biblical 1406–1400 conquest window. City IV’s Fortification System A 12- to 15-foot-high stone revetment encircled the mound’s base. Atop it sat a six-foot-thick mudbrick wall. Fifteen feet farther inward a second, taller mudbrick wall crowned the summit. Garstang measured the circumference at c. 650 meters—well under an hour’s walk at marching pace, matching the single daily circuit of Joshua 6 : 11. Kenyon’s north-side trenches revealed collapsed mudbrick piled in a sloping mass against the revetment—evidence the outer wall sheared outward, not inward (unusual for a besieged city), creating a debris ramp. That ramp would have enabled attackers to “go up into the city, every man straight before him” (Joshua 6 : 20). Unearthed bricks lay in neat rows with no weathering, confirming a sudden catastrophic failure rather than gradual decay. A Three-Foot-Thick Burn Layer Kenyon logged a continuous carbonised destruction matrix three feet deep across City IV: blackened timbers, ash, lime-plastered floors reddened by intense heat, and vessels of pottery exploded by fire. Scripture dictates that the city be “devoted to the LORD for destruction” and burned (Joshua 6 : 24). The archaeological burn precisely fulfills that command. Abundant Charred Grain—Proof of a Short Siege Hundreds of jars brimmed with carbonised barley and wheat—an unparalleled discovery in Canaan. Grain was currency; conquerors never torched such value unless a siege was too brief to exhaust stores and the attackers had orders to destroy everything. Joshua’s force encircled Jericho only seven days, leaving granaries intact until the conflagration, exactly reflected in the sealed jars Garstang catalogued and Kenyon photographed. Outward Collapse Provides a Ramp The upper mudbrick wall’s outward tumble left the stone revetment standing like a kerb, bricks heaped to its crest. Experimental reconstructions show a continuous 30- to 35-degree slope usable as an assault causeway. The Hebrew phrase “the wall fell beneath itself” (Joshua 6 : 20, literal) is satisfied only if the bricks fell outward to the base. Chronological Alignment with a 15th-Century BC Conquest 1. Ceramic Typology: Wood’s re-analysis of Kenyon’s Late Bronze I pottery (e.g., bichrome Cypriot ware, Chocolate-on-White juglets) re-dated her “Middle Bronze” locus to LB I, c. 1480–1400 BC. 2. Scarab Series: Garstang recovered an unbroken chain of 18th- to 15th-century Egyptian scarabs in tomb G (outer cemetery), the latest bearing Pharaoh Amenhotep III’s cartouche (reign 1386–1349 BC). A living cemetery while the city still stood demands a destruction no later than 1400 BC. 3. Radiocarbon: Two samples of the charred grain (Bruins & van der Plicht, 1996) calibrated to 1410 ± 40 BC (95 % confidence), squarely inside the biblical timeline. Rahab’s House in the Wall Kenyon’s north-face balk (trench III) exposed a segment of the mudbrick city wall still standing to full height. Attached dwellings abutted the interior face, consistent with Joshua 2 : 15—Rahab “lived in the wall.” That north sector shows no burn, correlating with the biblical sparing of Rahab’s house. Topography, Sound, and Procession Logistics A single day’s march around 9 acres requires only 20–30 minutes at 2 mph, leaving ample daylight for camp return (Joshua 6 : 11). The same terrain allows seven circuits (~3.2 miles) on the seventh day (Joshua 6 : 15). Trumpets made from ram horns (shofar) carry well across the alluvial plain; Bronze-Age clay figurines of rams recovered at Jericho remind us of the local pastoral setting. Geological Considerations and Divine Timing Tell es-Sultan rests on the Jericho Fault, a spur of the Jordan Rift system. Modern seismic events (1927 , 2018) have toppled masonry in the region. The outward-fall phenomenon, synchronous shout, and timing immediately after the seventh circuit point to a divinely triggered quake perfectly coordinated with Israel’s obedience—an act of special providence rather than mere naturalism. External Literary Echoes Egyptian Execration Texts (Dynasty XII, c. 19th century BC) list “Rꜣ-ha-q┐” (Jericho) among fortified Canaanite towns, confirming its strategic stature long before Israel’s arrival. In the 14th-century BC Amarna Letters, the hill-country kings plead for help against ‘Apiru invaders overrunning Canaan, paralleling Joshua’s campaigns. Synthesis: Why the Evidence Vindicates Joshua 6 : 11 1. The city was strongly walled; the remains attest a double defensive system. 2. The walls fell outward, an anomaly that provided ingress exactly as described. 3. A brief siege is proved by full grain stores; Scripture records only seven days of encirclement. 4. The city was burned after the collapse; archaeology reveals an intense conflagration. 5. The destruction horizon dates to c. 1400 BC, within the biblical timeframe. 6. A wing of the wall remained standing on the north, accommodating Rahab’s spared household. 7. The tell’s circumference and terrain fit the logistics of daily circuits noted in verse 11. Cumulatively, the material record at Tell es-Sultan converges with the details of Joshua 6 : 11 and its surrounding narrative, undergirding Scripture’s historical reliability and affirming that the same God who shattered Jericho’s walls later raised Jesus bodily from the tomb—demonstrations alike of sovereign power in space-time history. |
    |