Tel Jericho (Tel es-Sultan)
3 min
Tel Jericho is an archaeological site in the northeastern section of Jericho also known as er-Riha, Yeriho, Tel es-Sultan and Eriha. The tel (mound or hill) was the location of ancient Jericho and today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site within the Palestinian Authority West Bank. The site is located in the lower plains of the Jordan Valley, about 10 km north of the Dead Sea at 250 meters below sea level. It is close to the Ein es-Sultan spring.Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest cities in the world that has remained permanently inhabited from the 10th millennia BC. The site of Tel Jericho is identified with ancient Jericho which is mentioned in historical documents and the Bible. Today at the site visitors can see the excavated structures which once formed the core of Jericho city

Excavation History
Archaeologists first started investigating Tel Jericho in 1868 when Charles Warren made a preliminary survey of the site on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund and concluded that there was nothing to be gained by further exploration. He had sunk several shafts in the earth and missed the Neolithic tower. A more extensive excavation was conducted by Austro-German archaeologists led by E. Sellin and C. Watzinger in 1907-1909. These early explorations uncovered Bronze Age fortifications. In 1930-1936 further excavation work was done by G. Garstang.A fourth excavation project was carried out in 1952-1958 by Kathleen Kenyon. During this excavation the stratigraphic history of the site was determined and the findings were published in 5 volumes. It was Kenyon who documented the discovery of the Neolithic tower (8000-7000BC) which was 8 meters tall. More recently La Sapienza University in Rome has resumed excavation on behalf of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities. During the excavations a clear picture was formed of the cultural history of Jericho over the past 10,000 years.