The walls of Jericho, where?

by uncle_onion 8 Replies latest jw friends

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  uncle_onion

  I am reading a book recomended by Ginny Tosken.

  In it, it states that there were no walls around the city of Jericho. I seem to remember someone posting last week about this which contradicts the above.

  UO
• 

  patio34

  Uncle Onion,

  Thanks for the post. Would you please let us know the title and author and maybe a brief synopsis? I'm always on the lookout for books to read and I missed Ginny's recommendation. Thanks.

  Patio
• 

  uncle_onion

  sure. it is:

  The Bible unearthed:Archeaologys new vision of Ancient Isreal and the origin of its sacred texts.

  UO
• 

  LDH

  Having personally BEEN to Jericho, I'd like to suggest that the author make a little trip there.
• 

  Prisca

  lol @ LDH... yep, nothing beats actually visiting these places!
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  Moxy

  actually i remember hearing about that book. its quite recent isnt it? apparently some really interesting (tho controversial) stuff.

  keep us up-to-date and i might pick it up myself

  thx
  mox
• 

  GinnyTosken

  Here is a quote from The Bible Unearthed under the heading, “Did the Trumpets Really Blast?”:

  In the midst of the euphoria—almost at the very moment when it seemed that the battle of the conquest was won for Joshua—some troubling contradictions emerged. Even as the world press was reporting that Joshua’s conquest had been confirmed, many of the most important pieces of the archaeological puzzle simply did not fit.

  Jericho was among the most important. As we have noted, the cities of Canaan were unfortified and there were no walls that could have come tumbling down. In the case of Jericho, there was no trace of a settlement of any kind in the thirteenth century B.C.E., and the earlier Late Bronze settlement, dating to the fourteenth century B.C.E., was small and poor, almost insignificant, and unfortified. There was also no sign of a destruction. . . .

  I did a search on the net to find details about the archaeological findings in Jericho. I found the following at this site:
  http://www.prometheus.demon.co.uk/04/04herzog.htm

  The first work on the site was done by Captain Charles Warren of the British Royal Engineers who were surveying Palestine in 1867. He sank a shaft into the tell but failed to find to discover anything of archaeological significance and abandoned any further work. It was not until 1930 that the first a major expedition, lasting six years, was undertaken by Liverpool University under the direction of Professor John Garstang, one of the most distinguished archaeologists of the day. Garstang created headlines around the world when he claimed to have unearthed the fabled tumbling walls of Joshua.

  It was twenty years later that Kenyon, between 1952 and 1956, disproved Garstang's claim. Under the auspices of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem and supported by the Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan she undertook a major excavation and re-evaluation of the site using new techniques of soil removal and classification. Among her many findings were that the walls that Garstang had identified as Late Bronze Age and dated to 1600-1400 BCE were in fact much earlier and belonged to the Early Bronze Age which she dated as ending in 2100 BCE. Thus the evidence was at least 500 years too early for it to have been destroyed by Joshua.

  I found an article by Ze’ev Herzog about Jericho, mentioned at the site above, on the Biblical Archaeology site:
  http://www.bib-arch.org/editors_page/jericho1.html

  Ginny
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  JanH

  This book has come highly recommended by people I trust. It indeed contains nothing new, but it is very new to the lay public. Amazingly, the conclusions of the serious archeological studies of Palestine have mostly been left unknown to the public, allowing the bible-based 'experts' to tout their claims unchallenged. Of course, anyone taking a course in archeology or history of the region will learned these facts many years ago. I know I did. It's been well known that the whole pre-exilic history we find in the Old Testament is almost purely fiction.

  But since these archeological facts run counter not only to the beliefs of conservative Christians, but to the whole ideological justification for the modern state of Israel, many have been reluctant to put these facts out to the general public. Israel -- and certain Jewish organizations generally -- stop at nothing to fiercly attack anyone putting forth evidence they allege to be "anti-semitic". Thus, most archelogists stick to publishing these facts in archeology journals, generally not read by the public.

  - Jan
  --
  "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen"
  -- Albert Einstein
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  uncle_onion

  I am trying to read a chapter a night as it is a lot to take in. One thing that struck me last night was that although Archeaologists can find no trace of Isreal in the time period that the Bible sets it in, they have found later traces of foundations and Tent sites. And the interesting thing is that according to the bones that they found, they did not eat pork as no pig bones were found. Anyone got any comments on this?

  UO