{"id":73,"date":"2015-10-06T17:59:30","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T17:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/zelixart101\/?post_type=chapter&p=73"},"modified":"2015-10-29T22:12:46","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T22:12:46","slug":"jericho","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-arthistory1\/chapter\/jericho\/","title":{"raw":"Jericho","rendered":"Jericho"},"content":{"raw":"

A Natural Oasis<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_74\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"Full Figure 1. Jericho, Tell es-Sultan archaeological site[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe site of Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea and due west of the Jordan River, is\u00a0one of the oldest continuously lived-in cities in the world. The reason for this may\u00a0be found in its Arabic name, \u0100r\u012b\u1e25\u0101, which means fragrant; Jericho is a natural oasis\u00a0in the desert where countless fresh water springs can be found. This resource, which\u00a0drew its first visitors between 10,000 and 9000 BCE, still has ancestors that live there\u00a0today.\r\n

Biblical Reference<\/h2>\r\nThe site of Jericho is best known for its identity in the Bible and this has drawn\u00a0pilgrims and explorers to it as early as the fourth\u00a0century CE; serious archaeological\u00a0exploration didn\u2019t begin until the latter half of the nineteenth\u00a0century. What continues to\u00a0draw archaeologists to Jericho today is the hope of finding some evidence of the\u00a0warrior Joshua, who lead the Israelites to an unlikely victory against the Canaanites\u00a0(\"the walls of the city fell when Joshua and his\u00a0men marched around them blowing\u00a0horns\"\u00a0Joshua 6:1\u201327). Although unequivocal evidence of Joshua himself has yet to\u00a0be found, what has been uncovered are some 12,000 years\u00a0of human activity.\u00a0The most spectacular finds at Jericho, however, do not date to the\u00a0time of Joshua,\u00a0roughly the Bronze Age (3300\u20131200 BCE), but rather to the earliest\u00a0part of the\u00a0Neolithic era, before even the technology to make pottery had been\u00a0discovered.\r\n

Old Walls<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_76\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"Photograph Figure 2. Pre-Pottery era tower at Jericho[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe site of Jericho rises above the wide plain of the Jordan Valley, its height the\u00a0result of layer upon layer of human habitation, a formation called a Tell. The\u00a0earliest visitors to the site who left remains (stone tools) came in the Mesolithic\u00a0period (around 9000 BCE) but the first settlement at the site, around the Ein as-Sultan spring, dates to the early Neolithic era, and these people, who built homes,\u00a0grew plants, and kept animals, were among the earliest to do such anywhere in\u00a0the world. Specifically, in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A levels at Jericho (8500\u20137000\u00a0BCE) archaeologists found remains of a very large settlement of circular homes\u00a0made with mud brick and topped with domed roofs.\u00a0As the name of this era\u00a0implies, these early people at Jericho had not yet figured\u00a0out how to make pottery,\u00a0but they made vessels out of stone, wove cloth and for\u00a0tools were trading for aparticularly useful kind of stone, obsidian, from as far away\u00a0as \u00c7iftlik, in eastern\u00a0Turkey. The settlement grew quickly and, for reasons unknown,\u00a0the inhabitants\u00a0soon constructed a substantial stone wall and exterior ditch around\u00a0their town,\u00a0complete with a stone tower almost eight meters high, set against the\u00a0inner side\u00a0of the wall. Theories as to the function of this wall range from military\u00a0defense to\u00a0keeping out animal predators to even combating the natural rising of the\u00a0level of the\u00a0ground surrounding the settlement. However, regardless of its original\u00a0use, here we\u00a0have the first version of the walls Joshua so ably conquered some six\u00a0thousand years\u00a0later.\r\n

Plastered Human Skulls<\/h2>\r\nThe Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period is followed by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7000\u20135200 BCE), which was different from its predecessor in important ways. Houses in\u00a0this era were uniformly rectangular and constructed with a new kind of rectangular\u00a0mud bricks which were decorated with herringbone thumb impressions, and\u00a0always laid lengthwise in thick mud mortar. This mortar, like a plaster, was also\u00a0used to create a smooth surface on the interior walls, extending down across the\u00a0floors as well. In this period there is some strong evidence for cult or religious belief\u00a0at Jericho. Archaeologists discovered one uniquely large building dating to the period\u00a0with unique series of plastered interior pits and basins as well as domed adjoining\u00a0structures and it is thought this was for ceremonial use. Other possible evidence\u00a0of cult practice was discovered in several homes of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic town,\u00a0in the form of plastered human skulls which were molded over to resemble living\u00a0heads. Shells were used for eyes and traces of paint revealed that skin and hair\u00a0were also included in the representations. The largest group found together were\u00a0nine examples, buried in the fill below the plastered floor of one house.\r\n\r\nJericho isn\u2019t\u00a0the only site at which plastered skulls have been found in Pre-Pottery Neolithic B\u00a0levels; they have also been found at Tell Ramad, Beisamoun, Kfar Hahoresh, \u2018Ain\u00a0Ghazal and Nahal Hemar. Among the some sixty-two skulls discovered among these\u00a0sites, we know that older and younger men as well as women and children are\u00a0represented, which poses interesting questions as to their meaning. Were they focal\u00a0points in ancestor worship, as was originally thought, or did they function as images\u00a0by which deceased family members could be remembered? As we are without any\u00a0written record of the belief system practiced in the Neolithic period in the area, we will\u00a0never know.","rendered":"

A Natural Oasis<\/h2>\n
\"Full<\/p>\n

Figure 1. Jericho, Tell es-Sultan archaeological site<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The site of Jericho, just north of the Dead Sea and due west of the Jordan River, is\u00a0one of the oldest continuously lived-in cities in the world. The reason for this may\u00a0be found in its Arabic name, \u0100r\u012b\u1e25\u0101, which means fragrant; Jericho is a natural oasis\u00a0in the desert where countless fresh water springs can be found. This resource, which\u00a0drew its first visitors between 10,000 and 9000 BCE, still has ancestors that live there\u00a0today.<\/p>\n

Biblical Reference<\/h2>\n

The site of Jericho is best known for its identity in the Bible and this has drawn\u00a0pilgrims and explorers to it as early as the fourth\u00a0century CE; serious archaeological\u00a0exploration didn\u2019t begin until the latter half of the nineteenth\u00a0century. What continues to\u00a0draw archaeologists to Jericho today is the hope of finding some evidence of the\u00a0warrior Joshua, who lead the Israelites to an unlikely victory against the Canaanites\u00a0(“the walls of the city fell when Joshua and his\u00a0men marched around them blowing\u00a0horns”\u00a0Joshua 6:1\u201327). Although unequivocal evidence of Joshua himself has yet to\u00a0be found, what has been uncovered are some 12,000 years\u00a0of human activity.\u00a0The most spectacular finds at Jericho, however, do not date to the\u00a0time of Joshua,\u00a0roughly the Bronze Age (3300\u20131200 BCE), but rather to the earliest\u00a0part of the\u00a0Neolithic era, before even the technology to make pottery had been\u00a0discovered.<\/p>\n

Old Walls<\/h2>\n
\"Photograph<\/p>\n

Figure 2. Pre-Pottery era tower at Jericho<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The site of Jericho rises above the wide plain of the Jordan Valley, its height the\u00a0result of layer upon layer of human habitation, a formation called a Tell. The\u00a0earliest visitors to the site who left remains (stone tools) came in the Mesolithic\u00a0period (around 9000 BCE) but the first settlement at the site, around the Ein as-Sultan spring, dates to the early Neolithic era, and these people, who built homes,\u00a0grew plants, and kept animals, were among the earliest to do such anywhere in\u00a0the world. Specifically, in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A levels at Jericho (8500\u20137000\u00a0BCE) archaeologists found remains of a very large settlement of circular homes\u00a0made with mud brick and topped with domed roofs.\u00a0As the name of this era\u00a0implies, these early people at Jericho had not yet figured\u00a0out how to make pottery,\u00a0but they made vessels out of stone, wove cloth and for\u00a0tools were trading for aparticularly useful kind of stone, obsidian, from as far away\u00a0as \u00c7iftlik, in eastern\u00a0Turkey. The settlement grew quickly and, for reasons unknown,\u00a0the inhabitants\u00a0soon constructed a substantial stone wall and exterior ditch around\u00a0their town,\u00a0complete with a stone tower almost eight meters high, set against the\u00a0inner side\u00a0of the wall. Theories as to the function of this wall range from military\u00a0defense to\u00a0keeping out animal predators to even combating the natural rising of the\u00a0level of the\u00a0ground surrounding the settlement. However, regardless of its original\u00a0use, here we\u00a0have the first version of the walls Joshua so ably conquered some six\u00a0thousand years\u00a0later.<\/p>\n

Plastered Human Skulls<\/h2>\n

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period is followed by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7000\u20135200 BCE), which was different from its predecessor in important ways. Houses in\u00a0this era were uniformly rectangular and constructed with a new kind of rectangular\u00a0mud bricks which were decorated with herringbone thumb impressions, and\u00a0always laid lengthwise in thick mud mortar. This mortar, like a plaster, was also\u00a0used to create a smooth surface on the interior walls, extending down across the\u00a0floors as well. In this period there is some strong evidence for cult or religious belief\u00a0at Jericho. Archaeologists discovered one uniquely large building dating to the period\u00a0with unique series of plastered interior pits and basins as well as domed adjoining\u00a0structures and it is thought this was for ceremonial use. Other possible evidence\u00a0of cult practice was discovered in several homes of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic town,\u00a0in the form of plastered human skulls which were molded over to resemble living\u00a0heads. Shells were used for eyes and traces of paint revealed that skin and hair\u00a0were also included in the representations. The largest group found together were\u00a0nine examples, buried in the fill below the plastered floor of one house.<\/p>\n

Jericho isn\u2019t\u00a0the only site at which plastered skulls have been found in Pre-Pottery Neolithic B\u00a0levels; they have also been found at Tell Ramad, Beisamoun, Kfar Hahoresh, \u2018Ain\u00a0Ghazal and Nahal Hemar. Among the some sixty-two skulls discovered among these\u00a0sites, we know that older and younger men as well as women and children are\u00a0represented, which poses interesting questions as to their meaning. Were they focal\u00a0points in ancestor worship, as was originally thought, or did they function as images\u00a0by which deceased family members could be remembered? As we are without any\u00a0written record of the belief system practiced in the Neolithic period in the area, we will\u00a0never know.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t

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