Larsguy47

WERE JERICHO'S WALLS MADE OF WOOD RATHER THAN STONE?

(First of all, very important. Who is it in the Bible that was born with neither mother or father who was involved with Jericho? Right: Joshua, the son of NUN. Okay, back to archaeology!)


Joshua 6:20

"So the people shouted when [the priests] blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city."

As the Bible's account describes, the walls fell "flat" then each man went into the city directly in front of him. Now that's easy to imagine if the wall was made of wood and fell in sections outward. They would just proceed over the fall down wall.

Regarding evidence of a stone wall at this level during the LBIIA period, excavators have found no evidence whatsoever:


Kathleen Kenyon: Digging Up Jericho, Jericho and the Coming of the Israelites, page 262:

"As concerns the date of the destruction of Jericho by the Israelites, all that can be said is that the latest Bronze Age occupation should, in my view, be dated to the third quarter of the fourteenth century B.C. This is a date which suits neither the school of scholars which would date the entry of the Israelites into Palestine to c. 1400 B.C. nor the school which prefers a date of c. 1260 B.C."


Page 261 of her book, "Digging Up Jericho," in the Chapter called "Jericho And Coming Of The Israelites," she says:

"It is a sad fact that of the town walls of the Late Bronze Age, within which period the attack by the Israelites must fall by any dating, not a trace remains."

This would be consistent with the walls being made of wood. By now 3000+ years later the wood would have completely disintegraded. Further this entire city level has all but been eroded away.

Wooden walls could also explain why nothing is left of the city of "Ai" which was next to Bethel that was also conquered and apparently leaving no archaeological evidence of this city. Other cities mentioned in Egyptian records which prove they were present in ancient times also have not been found. Cities using bulding materials other than stone, once uninhabited, would thus completely disappear, archaeologically speaking.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Wooden walls at Jericho explain everything and most importantly fit the available evidence.

LG47

xaxxat

I think air walls are more like it. The Hebrews huffed annd puffed and blew them all away...

douglas

I think the first step would be to find evidence of ANY ancient battlements or fortifications that were made of wood. Historical, archaeological, etc. Given Jericho's location, wood seems an unlikely building material.

I guess if they were made of wood, the song might go something like "Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, lit a match, and the walls went a burnin' up!"

spin

My theory is that the walls were made out of paper. Josh sent in food that caused diarrhea, so that everyone ran out of their normal paper supply and were in need of another source of paper. At the same time Josh had his brass band blow up awful Salvation Army tunes which caused uncontrollable bowel contractions, and the walls came tumblin' down.


nisp

rjf

Did you just say that the bible is true because there are no walls around Jericho from the time it should have happened if the bible is true?

yummyfur

Wood walls leave archaeological evidence

I personally helped excavate portions of the stockade walls at Cahokia(1100 AD) in the 80's, as well as too many post holes of ancient timber huts to count.

Also to build decent timber walls one needs a prodigious supply of tall(20' trunks) straight thick trees that one doesn't need for food, like date palms.(and yeah I've built hill forts for experimental archeology, so I know) Why build wood walls in an area that is short in supply of correct timber, but has lots of available stone. In Joshua 7 it actually mentions the stone quarries in the area.

gupwalla

Assuming for a moment that the walls of Jericho really were made of wood...what makes you think they would have disintigrated over 3000+ years as opposed to, I don't know, burning when "they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it [including, one supposes, the bodies of 'both man and woman {but not the cute slut Joshua had his eye on "and her father and her mother and her brothers"}, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey']"?

Or have I taken this literalism thing a step too far?

Oh, and what rjf said.

douglas

That's the same reasoning used for justifying the resurrection of Jesus. "Look! Jesus has risen! His body is gone!"

Which is like saying "I've got an invisible fairy in my hand. Look! Don't see anything, do you? There's your proof."

DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR

If the walls were made of wood, then they would've just set fire to the walls instead, they proceed to do this to the city in verse 24.

As far as your speculation and your Nun joke they both fall flat...

Does that mean I imagine your speculation and Nun joke falling in sections outward, or, without any imagination, that they just both fail, miserably?

3DJay

Ohhhh...for crying out loud...you're just making stuff up again. It would not be consistent. Archaeologists find evidence of ancient wooden objects and structures, all the freakin time.

Maybe...maybe not. The extent of the erosion is all speculation, without any evidence of what has been eroded away. At other layers they also found erosion, but there was evidence at the bottom of the mound, where it had slid down to.

For your level.......nothing.

Make up a new dream.


Peace