WEST BANK: Archaeological site unearths layers of civilisation in the West Bank town of Jericho

An archaeological dig delves deep into the many layers of history in what tourist guidebooks call the world's oldest city. The earliest settlement in the West Bank town of Jericho was located at the present-day Tel al-Sultan (or Sultan's Mound), a couple of kilometres from the current town centre. The archaeological site, first excavated in the mid 1800s, reveals layer upon layer of houses belonging to the various civilisations which occupied the area, situated some 400 metres above sea level. "Tel al-Sultan is located to the West of Jericho, two kilometres from the centre of the modern-day city. It is about 300 (metres) higher than the Tel al-Sultan spring which is behind us. This area has 23 layers, that is to say 23 civilisations or countries lived in this location," says Palestinian archaeologist Fawzia Shahada. Archaeologists believe people have inhabited the city continually for between 8,000 and 11,000 years. Jericho is thus a magnet for tourists, many of whom visit the city for its biblical associations. Tourist guides cite modern excavations that have verified biblical accounts of Joshua's conquest of the first settlement in Canaan. The nearby Jordan river is the site of numerous chapels commemorating the baptism of Jesus. The Mount of Temptation near Jericho is where Jesus spent his 40 nights in the wilderness. When Jericho became the first West Bank town Israel transferred to Palestinian rule in 1994, Palestinians hoped tourism in the city would blossom and boost the West Bank's economy. But these hopes dissipated when Israel imposed a blockade on the Palestinian territories following the eruption of a Palestinian uprising in 2000. Israel has installed concrete barricades, trenches, barbed wire and army checkpoints around Jericho to enforce a closure policy imposed on security grounds at the start of the uprising. Israel imposed similar closure policies on most Palestinian cities in the Israeli-occupied territories. The blockade has driven many local and international tourists away from the historic city. On the opposite side of the city is a once-lucrative casino that attracted thousands of Israelis to the Palestinian-ruled city. The casino, where in the late 1990s up to 3,000 Israelis a day poured money into slot machines and card tables in an unusual example of economic cooperation with the Palestinians, is closed and abandoned, the only movement its swaying trees outside. Shahada said that at one time, it was natural and not political disasters that plagued the city. "Jericho was the site of many geological changes. Every year there used to be an earthquake. The earthquakes would destroy the houses and the ground layers. We can see that the old houses were made of mud bricks, and the roofs were covered with palm leaves," Shahada said. "Their houses used to be simple. During the time of the Hyksos (civilisation which ruled in the area between 2000 and 1500 B.C.), they built their houses with doors in the roof to keep thieves away," she said, referring to the "upside-down" houses for which the site is famous. Extensive investigations in Tel al-Sultan were made by archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon between 1952 and 1958. Despite the political instability in the area, a handful of tourists walk through the ruins of ancient Jericho. Palestinian officials say the Israeli army closure has wrecked farming as well as tourism in the city where up to 500 million U.S. dollars in private investment had gone to development after Palestinians assumed control of the city of some 19,000 residents.

ITN Source | April 3, 2007

Tags:. .ancient. .metres. .earthquakes. .dig. .transferred