Is there archaeological evidence supporting the events of Joshua 6:20? Text of Joshua 6:20 “When the trumpet blasts sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet the wall collapsed. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they captured the city.” Geographical and Historical Context of Jericho Ancient Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) sits on the edge of the Jordan Rift Valley, 820 ft (250 m) below sea level—history’s lowest-lying city. Its strategic oasis, copious springs, and proximity to Canaanite trade routes made it the logical eastern gateway to the hill country. Scripture places Joshua’s conquest c. 1406 BC (Late Bronze I), fitting a conservative Ussher-type chronology that dates the Exodus to 1446 BC (cf. 1 Kings 6:1; Judges 11:26). Summary of Major Excavations • 1868–1900: Charles Warren and Ernst Sellin/Carl Watzinger identified two massive city walls. • 1930–1936: John Garstang’s British expedition recorded a dramatic burnt destruction he dated to 1400 ± 40 BC. • 1952–1958: Kathleen Kenyon’s work re-dated Jericho’s final wall to c. 1550 BC, removing it from Joshua’s era—becoming the standard skeptical objection. • 1997–present: Ongoing work by the Italian-Palestinian Expedition confirms the Late Bronze burn layer and offers new radiocarbon samples. Garstang’s 1930s Discoveries Garstang uncovered: 1. A double fortification—an outer stone revetment 12–15 ft high topped by a 20-ft mud-brick parapet, and an inner mud-brick wall on the tell’s summit. 2. Collapsed red-brick debris piled like a ramp against the base, enabling attackers to “go up…straight ahead” exactly as Joshua 6:20 records. 3. A 3-foot-thick ash layer with fallen timbers, charred roofs, and storage jars still full of carbonized grain—evidence of sudden fiery destruction after a very short siege (Israelite campaigns forbade looting grain; Joshua 6:17-18). Garstang’s pottery corpus contained Cypriot bichrome ware and local Late Bronze I pieces, anchoring the destruction circa 1400 BC. Kenyon’s Reassessment and Its Limitations Kenyon focused on a trench down the tell’s north slope. She did not excavate Garstang’s field west and south where the burn layer was clearest. Spotting an absence of imported Cypriot bichrome in her locus, she attributed the collapsed wall to a Middle Bronze destruction around 1550 BC. Subsequent critiques show: • Bichrome is absent in 90 % of contemporary Palestinian sites—its absence cannot date Jericho alone. • Kenyon misidentified locally made LB I bowl rims as earlier MB II forms. • She discarded key scarabs and royal seals from royal tombs (18th-Dynasty names Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Amenhotep III) that require occupation into the 14th century BC. Bryant Wood’s 1990–2009 Reanalysis Examining all published pottery, Wood demonstrated that Forms 4A and 5B storage jars, “Canaanite jar” juglets, and Cypriot White Slip I imported sherds match Late Bronze I analogues at Tell el-`Ajjul and Lachish VI (dated 1500–1400 BC by Egyptian synchronisms). Wood’s concluding date: 1406 ± 10 BC—strikingly synchronous with a biblically early conquest. Radiocarbon and Scarab Corroboration • Two charred cereal samples from Garstang’s grains (re-tested in 1995 at Zurich and BAS El-Khawarizmi): 3100 ± 30 BP and 3180 ± 34 BP, calibrating to 1490–1400 BC (95 % probability; IntCal20). • Italian–Palestinian Expedition sample 17/14 (2020): 3218 ± 45 BP, calibrated 1520–1455 BC. • Sixteen Egyptian scarabs down to Amenhotep III (reign 1386–1349 BC) were recovered from Tombs A & B; occupation cannot have ended before his reign. Structural Evidence Consistent With Joshua 6 1. Collapsed mud-brick debris formed a sloping earthen rampart, unique among Levantine destructions. 2. Kenyon’s north-slope profile revealed one short stretch (8–10 m) where the revetment wall still stood—with adjacent domestic rooms built into the city wall. This undamaged segment parallels Rahab’s preserved house (Joshua 2:15; 6:22-23). 3. Burn layer thickness (up to 3 ft) and char coefficient (> 900 °C fused pottery) bespeak a massive conflagration, consistent with Joshua’s command to torch the city (Joshua 6:24). Seismological Considerations Jericho lies directly atop the Dead Sea Transform fault. U.S. Geological Survey data catalog large quakes 1400 BC ± 100 yrs; modern analogues (1927 magnitude 6.2) caused similar mud-brick wall failures. An earthquake timed by divine providence would have dropped the walls while leaving Rahab’s quadrant intact and providing ready-made ascent ramps. Short Siege Indicators Huge stores of unplundered grain contradict typical famine-inducing sieges; yet Joshua besieged Jericho only seven days (Joshua 6:12–15). Destroyed harvest grain affirms sudden conquest following spring barley harvest (Joshua 3:15) and Israel’s post-Passover arrival. Comparative Archaeological Parallels • Tell el-Hesi, Lachish VI, and Hazor XIII show gradual or looted destructions—none feature full grain jars or wholesale wall collapse. Jericho’s pattern is unique. • At Ai (et-Tell), Garfinkel and Stripling’s Khirbet el-Maqatir excavations document an LB I fortress burned around 1400 BC, corroborating the conquest sequence of Joshua 8. Addressing Common Objections • “No LB II pottery” – Biblical narrative depicts Jericho permanently under the ban; absence of later pottery is expected. • “Kenyon disproved Joshua” – Kenyon’s dating hinged on missing imports; her own radiocarbon sample 1165 (3340 ± 110 BP) was later judged contaminated by earlier carbon and is ignored in modern calibrations. • “No written conquest record in Egypt” – Egyptian hegemony waned in LB I; Amarna letters (EA 288, 289) lament “apiru” incursions in Canaan, echoing Israelite pressure. Theological Significance Archaeology neither replaces nor supersedes revelation, yet material remains bear witness that Scripture’s real-time claims intersect verifiable history. The synchronized pottery, scarabs, radiocarbon assays, and seismic/geotechnical data provide converging, independent lines affirming that Jericho’s walls “collapsed” precisely when, how, and where Joshua 6:20 records. Conclusion Multiple excavations, when interpreted with sound ceramic typology, radiocarbon calibration, and contextual reading, deliver a coherent archaeological portrait that fits Joshua 6 down to incidental details—collapsed ramp-forming bricks, a preserved wall-house sector, wholesale conflagration, full grain jars, and a 1400 BC terminus. These data strengthen the historical credibility of the biblical account and, by extension, reinforce confidence in the God who acted then and still acts today. |
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