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‘And the Walls Came Tumbling Down’ – The History and Historicity of the Biblical Account of Jericho

Khalid Elhassan May 16, 2025 16 min

Jericho - Depiction of the Old Testament's description of Jericho's walls miraculously falling down — Depiction of the Old Testament's description of Jericho's walls miraculously falling down. Pinterest

1. A UNESCO World Heritage Site

Jericho - Tell es-Sultan, site of ancient Jericho — Tell es-Sultan, site of ancient Jericho. Wafa Agency, Nablus

As one of the world’s oldest cities, Jericho stands as a monument to human ingenuity, perseverance, and the enduring quest for community and civilization. In September 2023, Tell es-Sultan was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognizing its universal value to the history of early urban development and human civilization.

Tell es-Sultan serves as a crucial link to our understanding of early human societies, urbanization, and cultural evolution. Its extensive archaeological record offers invaluable insights into the development of complex societies and the enduring human spirit. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Tell es-Sultan, the site of ancient Jericho’s ruins, continues to be a focal point for research, education, and cultural heritage preservation.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Bright, John – A History of Israel (2000)

Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research No. 74 (Apr. 1939) – The Israelite of Canaan in the Light of Archaeology

Collector, The – The Walls of Jericho: Biblical Truth or Historical Propaganda?

Day, John – Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan (2002)

Dever, William G. – Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From? (2006)

Encyclopedia Britannica – The Conquest of Canaan

Finkelstein, Israel, and Silberman, Neil Asher – The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Sacred Texts (2002)

History Collection – Fascinating Biblical and Biblical Era Archaeology

Killebrew, Anne E. – Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, And Early Israel 1300-1100 BCE (2005)

Le Strange, Guy – Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Lands From AD 650 to 1500 (1890)

Nigro, Lorenzo – The Italian-Palestinian Expedition to Tell es-Sultan, Ancient Jericho, 1997-2015 (2020)

UNESCO – Ancient Jericho/ Tell es-Stultan

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.