Editing Jericho (section)

===Stone Age: Tell es-Sultan and spring===
The earliest excavated settlement was located at the present-day [[Tell es-Sultan]] (or Sultan's Hill), a couple of kilometers from the current city. In both [[Arabic language|Arabic]] and Hebrew, ''[[Tell (archaeology)|tell]]'' means "mound" – consecutive layers of habitation built up a mound over time, as is common for ancient settlements in the Middle East and [[Anatolia]]. Jericho is the [[type site]] for the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]] (PPNA) and [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic B]] (PPNB) periods.

====Natufian hunter-gatherers, {{circa|10,000 BCE}}====
[[File:Calibrated Carbon 14 dates for Jericho as of 2013.jpg|thumb|Calibrated carbon 14 dates for Jericho as of 2013<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shukurov |first1=Anvar |last2=Sarson |first2=Graeme R. |last3=Gangal |first3=Kavita |title=The Near-Eastern Roots of the Neolithic in South Asia |journal=PLOS ONE |date=7 May 2014 |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=Appendix S1 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0095714 |language=en |issn=1932-6203|pmc=4012948 |pmid=24806472 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...995714G |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]
[[File:Reconstruction of the Natufian-Jericho skull.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of the Natufian-Jericho skull<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moraes |first1=Cicero |last2=Beaini |first2=Thiago Leite |last3=Santos |first3=Moacir Elias |date=2023-01-10 |journal=A Aproximação Facial Forense do Crânio de Jericó (BM 127414), ≈9000 AP | title=A Aproximação Facial Forense do Crânio de Jericó (BM 127414), ≈9000 AP | url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/A_Aproxima_o_Facial_Forense_do_Cr_nio_de_Jeric_BM_127414_9000_AP/21772343/2 |language=en |doi=10.6084/m9.figshare.21772343.v2}}</ref>]]
[[Epipaleolithic]] construction at the site appears to predate the invention of [[agriculture]], with the construction of [[Natufian culture]] structures beginning earlier than 9000&nbsp;BCE, the beginning of the [[Holocene]] epoch in geologic history.<ref name=Freedmanp689/>

Jericho has evidence of settlement dating back to {{circa|10,000 BCE}}. During the [[Younger Dryas]] period of cold and drought, permanent habitation of any one location was impossible. However, the [[Ein as-Sultan camp|Ein es-Sultan]] spring at what would become Jericho was a popular camping ground for [[Natufian]] hunter-gatherer groups, who left a scattering of crescent-shaped microlith tools behind them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mithen |first=Steven |title=After the ice: a global human history, 20,000–5000 BCE |year=2006 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=0-674-01999-7 |page=57 |edition=1st Harvard University Press pbk. }}</ref> Around 9600&nbsp;BCE, the droughts and cold of the Younger Dryas [[stadial]] had come to an end, making it possible for Natufian groups to extend the duration of their stay, eventually leading to year-round habitation and permanent settlement.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

====Pre-Pottery Neolithic, {{circa}} 9500–6500 BCE====
{{Further|Tell es-Sultan|Tower of Jericho}}
[[File:Jerycho8.jpg|right|thumb|Dwelling foundations unearthed at [[Tell es-Sultan]] in Jericho]]

The Pre-Pottery Neolithic at Jericho is divided in Pre-Pottery Neolithic A and Pre-Pottery Neolithic B.

=====Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)=====
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2022}}
The first permanent settlement on the site of Jericho developed near the Ein es-Sultan spring between 9,500 and 9000&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mama.org/exhibits/ancient/prehistoric/ |title=Prehistoric Cultures |publisher=Museum of Ancient and Modern Art |year=2010 |access-date=5 September 2013 |archive-date=3 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803074340/https://www.mama.org/exhibits/ancient/prehistoric/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5704/ |title=Ancient Jericho: Tell es-Sultan |year=2012 |access-date=5 September 2013 |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref> As the world warmed up, a new culture based on agriculture and sedentary dwelling emerged, which archaeologists have termed "[[Pre-Pottery Neolithic A]]" (abbreviated as PPNA). Its cultures lacked pottery, but featured the following:{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}
* small circular dwellings
* burial of the dead under the floor of buildings
* reliance on hunting of wild game
* cultivation of wild or domestic cereals
[[File:Jericho Statue.png|thumb|Head of an ancestor statue, Jericho, from c. 9000 years ago, among the oldest representations of a human face ever found. [[Rockefeller Archeological Museum]], [[Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rice |first1=Patricia C. |last2=Moloney |first2=Norah |title=Biological Anthropology and Prehistory: Exploring Our Human Ancestry |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317349815 |page=636 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DcWlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT636 |language=en}}</ref>]]

At Jericho, circular dwellings were built of [[Adobe|clay and straw]] bricks left to dry in the sun, which were plastered together with a mud mortar. Each house measured about {{convert|5|m}} across, and was roofed with mud-smeared brush. Hearths were located within and outside the homes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mithen|first=Steven|title=After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000–5000 BCE|year=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|isbn=0-674-01999-7|page=54|edition=1st Harvard University Press pbk.}}</ref>
[[File:Ziko.jpg|thumb|upright|The 8000 BCE [[Tower of Jericho]] at Tell es-Sultan]]

The Pre-Sultan ({{Circa|8350}} – 7370&nbsp;BCE){{dubious|Contradicts dates given in this paragraph: "between 9,400 and 9000", "about 9400 BCE", but fits somewhat with time when the tower was used according to Barkai & Liran: "The tower was constructed and used between ≈8300 BCE and ≈7800 BCE (Burleigh 1981, 1983)." It also fits with starting date of PPNB indicated in the next paragraph.|date=February 2016}} is sometimes called [[Neolithic#Fertile Crescent|Sultanian]]. The site is a {{convert|40000|m2}} settlement surrounded by a massive stone wall over {{convert|3.6|m}} high and {{convert|1.8|m}} wide at the base, inside of which stood a stone tower, over {{convert|8.5|m}} high, containing an internal staircase with 22 stone steps<ref name=Ringp367 /><ref>{{cite book |last=Mithen |first=Steven |title=After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000–5000 BCE |year=2006 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=0-674-01999-7 |page=59 |edition=1st Harvard University Press pbk.}}</ref> and placed in the centre of the west side of the tell.<ref name=BarkaiLiran>{{cite journal |last1=Barkai |first1=Ran |last2=Liran |first2=Roy |year=2008 |title=Midsummer Sunset at Neolithic Jericho |journal=Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture |volume=1 |issue=3 |page=279 |doi=10.2752/175169708X329345 |s2cid = 161987206  |issn = 1751-696X }}</ref> This tower and the even older ones excavated at [[Tell Qaramel]] in Syria<ref name=PaP2007>{{cite web |first=Anna |last=Ślązak |date=21 June 2007|title=Yet another sensational discovery by Polish archaeologists in Syria|url=http://www.eduskrypt.pl/yet_another_sensational_discovery_by_polish_archaeologists_in_syria-info-6775.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001171824/http://www.eduskrypt.pl/yet_another_sensational_discovery_by_polish_archaeologists_in_syria-info-6775.html|archive-date=1 October 2011|access-date=23 February 2016 |work=Science in Poland service, [[Polish Press Agency]]}}</ref><ref name=PCMA>{{cite web |first=R.F. |last=Mazurowski |year=2007|title=Pre- and Protohistory in the Near East: Tell Qaramel (Syria)|url=http://www.pcma.uw.edu.pl/index.php?id=154&L=2 |access-date=23 February 2016 |work=Newsletter 2006 |publisher=Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, [[Warsaw University]]}}</ref> are the oldest towers ever to be discovered. The wall of Jericho may have served as a defence against flood-water, with the tower used for ceremonial purposes.<ref name=PMMA57>{{cite book |last1=Akkermans |first1=Peter M. M. |last2=Schwartz |first2=Glenn M. |title=The Archaeology of Syria: From Complex Hunter-Gatherers to Early Urban Societies (c. 16,000–300 BCE) |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521796668 |page=57}}</ref> The wall and tower were built during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period around 8000&nbsp;BCE.<ref name=BarkaiJP>{{cite web|url=http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=208206 |last=O'Sullivan |first=Arieh |title=World's first skyscraper sought to intimidate masses |work=The Jerusalem Post|date=14 February 2011|access-date=6 November 2018}}</ref><ref name=Kenyon1981>{{cite book |first1=Kathleen M. |last1= Kenyon |first2=Thomas A. |last2=Holland |title=Excavations at Jericho: The architecture and stratigraphy of the Tell: plates, p. 6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbptAAAAMAAJ|year=1981 |publisher=British School of Archaeology |isbn=978-0-9500542-3-0}}</ref> For the tower, carbon dates published in 1981 and 1983 indicate that it was built around 8300&nbsp;BCE and stayed in use until {{Circa|7800&nbsp;BCE}}.<ref name=BarkaiLiran/> The wall and tower would have taken a hundred men more than a hundred days to construct, thus suggesting some kind of social organization.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}} The town contained round mud-brick houses, yet no street planning.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ourfatherlutheran.net/biblehomelands/palestine/jericho/jericho.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220035014/http://www.ourfatherlutheran.net/biblehomelands/palestine/jericho/jericho.htm |archive-date=20 February 2008 |title=Old Testament Jericho |date=20 February 2008 |access-date=31 March 2011}}</ref> The identity and number of the inhabitants of Jericho during the PPNA period is still under debate, with estimates going as high as 2,000–3,000, and as low as 200–300.<ref name=EB1/><ref name=PMMA57/> It is known that this population had domesticated [[emmer wheat]], [[barley]] and [[Pulse (legume)|pulses]] and hunted wild animals.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

=====Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB)=====
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2022}}
The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) was a period of about 1.4 millennia, from 7220 to 5850&nbsp;BCE{{clarify|reason=Leaves two substantial gaps, one -, one +: if PPNB covers 9,500-9000, and PPN altogether ends around 6500, that leaves 1780 years belonging nowhere (9000-7220), and extends PPN from the stated 6500 by 650 years to 5850 BC. Must be addressed.|date=October 2021}} (though [[carbon-14]]-dates are few and early). The following are PPNB cultural features:{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}
* Expanded range of domesticated plants
* Possible [[Domestic sheep|domestication of sheep]]
* Apparent [[cult (religion)|cult]] involving the preservation of human skulls, with facial features reconstructed using [[plaster]], and eyes set with shells in some cases
[[File:Fertile crescent Neolithic B circa 7500 BC.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Area of the [[Fertile Crescent]], {{Circa|7500 BC}}, with main sites. Jericho was a foremost site of the [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]] period. The area of [[Mesopotamia]] proper was not yet settled by humans.]]

After a few centuries, the first settlement was abandoned. After the PPNA settlement phase, there was a settlement hiatus of several centuries, then the PPNB settlement was founded on the eroded surface of the [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]]. This second settlement, established in 6800&nbsp;BCE, perhaps represents the work of an invading people who absorbed the original inhabitants into their dominant culture. Artifacts dating from this period include ten [[plastered human skulls]], painted so as to reconstitute the individuals' features.<ref name=Ringp367/> These represent either [[teraphim]] or the first example of [[portrait]]ure in [[art history]],{{dubious|reason=see [[Tell Awad]] and discussion on Jericho's talk page|date=August 2013}} and it is thought that they were kept in people's homes while the bodies were buried.<ref name=Freedmanp689/><ref name=Janson>Janson and Janson, 2003.</ref>

The architecture consisted of rectilinear buildings made of mudbricks on stone foundations. The mudbricks were loaf-shaped with deep thumb prints to facilitate bonding. No building has been excavated in its entirety. Normally, several rooms cluster around a central courtyard. There is one big room ({{convert|6.5|x|4|m|1|abbr=on|lk=out}}{{dubious|reason=conversion via template displays unwarranted (false) precision|date=February 2018}} and {{convert|7|x|3|m|1|abbr=on|lk=out}}){{dubious|reason=conversion via template displays unwarranted (false) precision|date=February 2018}} with internal divisions; the rest are small, presumably used for storage. The rooms have red or pinkish [[terrazzo]]-floors made of lime. Some impressions of mats made of reeds or rushes have been preserved. The courtyards have clay floors.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

Kathleen Kenyon interpreted one building as a [[shrine]]. It contained a niche in the wall. A chipped pillar of volcanic stone that was found nearby might have fitted into this niche.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

The dead were buried under the floors or in the rubble fill of abandoned buildings. There are several collective burials. Not all the skeletons are completely articulated, which may point to a time of exposure before burial. A [[human skull|skull]] cache contained seven skulls. The jaws were removed and the faces covered with plaster; [[cowry|cowries]] were used as eyes. A total of ten skulls were found. Modelled skulls were found in [[Tell Ramad]] and [[Beisamoun]] as well.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}

Other finds included flints, such as arrowheads (tanged or side-notched), finely denticulated sickle-blades, [[Burin (lithic flake)|burin]]s, scrapers, a few [[tranchet axe]]s, [[obsidian]], and green obsidian from an unknown source. There were also [[Quern-stone|querns]], hammerstones, and a few ground-stone axes made of greenstone. Other items discovered included dishes and bowls carved from soft limestone, spindle whorls made of stone and possible loom weights, spatulae and drills, stylised anthropomorphic plaster figures, almost life-size, [[anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] and [[Theriomorphism|theriomorphic]] clay figurines, as well as shell and malachite beads.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kujit |first=Ian |title=Jericho |publisher=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-19-973578-5 |editor-last=Silberman |editor-first=Neil Asher |edition=2 |volume=2 |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeJMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA166}}</ref>

In the late 4th millennium BCE, Jericho was occupied during Neolithic 2{{dubious|Neol. 2 seems to be equivalent with PPNB, which ends long before M4 BCE. Unless pottery appeared at Jericho later than M4, this is a mistake AND THIS BELONGS EITHER UNDER CHALCOLITHIC OR BRONZE AGE.|date=February 2016}} and the general character of the remains on the site link it culturally with Neolithic 2 (or PPNB) sites in the West Syrian and Middle Euphrates groups. This link is established by the presence of rectilinear mud-brick buildings and plaster floors that are characteristic of the age.{{citation needed|date= March 2022}}