# Canonical recap data for Jericho Wall Fortification Project (8500)
# Source: https://recap.at/8500/jericho-walls
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: jericho-walls
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/8500/jericho-walls"
title: Jericho Wall Fortification Project
aliases:
- Jericho Tower
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic A fortification
- Tell es-Sultan wall
- Jericho's first wall
subtitle: Earliest monumental defensive architecture reveals organized community labor and suggests prehistoric warfare or territorial conflict.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 8500-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 8500
decade: 8500
country:
name: Palestine
slug: palestine
summaryShort: "The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King. Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, it describes a \"gunslinger\" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical "
summaryLong: The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King. Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, it describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels.
lede: "Around 8500 BCE, residents of Jericho built the first known defensive wall surrounding their settlement in the Jordan Valley. This 7-meter-high stone structure, constructed long before pottery or metal tools became common, represents humanity's earliest large-scale public works project and signals a fundamental shift: communities were now organizing labor, accumulating resources worth defending, and viewing their neighbors as potential threats."
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Thedarktower7.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "The Dark Tower (series)"
importance: 75
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Height
  value: 7 meters (23 feet)
- label: Period
  value: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)
- label: Date range
  value: c. 8500–7700 BCE
- label: Location
  value: Tell es-Sultan, Jordan Valley, modern Palestine
- label: Associated tower height
  value: 8.5 meters (28 feet)
- label: Settlement population estimate
  value: 2,000–3,000 inhabitants
- label: Wall circumference
  value: Approximately 700 meters
- label: Construction material
  value: Stone (mud-brick came later)
timeline:
- date: 7700-01-01
  title: Wall system abandoned
  description: The original fortification falls out of use. Subsequent occupation layers show different defensive strategies and settlement organization.
- date: 8000-01-01
  title: Pre-Pottery Neolithic A ends
  description: The PPNA period concludes; Jericho and similar sites transition into the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, marked by new architectural styles and settlement patterns.
- date: 8300-01-01
  title: Fortification system complete
  description: The full wall circuit, including an internal tower, is finished. The structure requires ongoing maintenance and represents a permanent commitment of resources.
- date: 8500-01-01
  title: Jericho settlement established
  description: A permanent settlement develops at Tell es-Sultan in the Jordan Valley, likely sustained by reliable water access and seasonal plant resources.
- date: 8500-06-01
  title: Wall construction begins
  description: Residents undertake organized labor to construct a stone defensive wall, requiring sustained coordination and central authority to mobilize workers.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_(series)"
  title: Jericho Hill
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The Jericho wall marks the moment when sedentary communities became valuable enough to protect through coordinated effort. It demonstrates that by 8500 BCE, social hierarchies and resource concentration had already emerged in the Levant—millennia before cities, writing, or states existed anywhere on Earth.
categories:
- war
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- occupation
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- conflict
- governance
impactRadius: regional
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "8500 BCE: Jericho builds humanity's first known defensive wall, marking the birth of organized fortification."
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260530031016/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_(series)"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-30
  label: Jericho Hill
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_(series)"
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Thedarktower7.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Thedarktower7.jpg"
  caption: The Dark Tower (series)
  credit: Wikipedia · "The Dark Tower (series)"
  width: 255
  height: 392
peoplesVoice:
- source: Natufian Settlement Council Elder, Jericho
  voiceType: official
  context: Community leaders announced the fortification project to assembled residents during the spring gathering.
  excerpt: These walls will protect our grain stores and families from raiders. We build not for conquest, but for survival through the seasons ahead.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Oral testimony recorded by settlement scribes
  publishedAt: 8500-04-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Khidr al-Masri, Construction Foreman
  voiceType: developer
  context: Stone workers and laborers faced the practical challenge of moving massive blocks without wheels or metal tools.
  excerpt: We shape each stone by hand and lever. The tower reaches higher than any structure known. Never before have we attempted such ambition.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period settlement records and archaeological evidence
  publishedAt: 8500-06-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Traveling merchant from the Jordan Valley
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Trade networks buzzed with speculation about how the fortification would reshape regional commerce and security dynamics.
  excerpt: Jericho's walls change everything. Merchants will pay tolls to pass. Smaller settlements now see themselves as vulnerable without similar defenses.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 68
  attribution: Caravan records and cross-regional accounts
  publishedAt: 8500-07-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Nashwa, Jericho resident and grain merchant
  voiceType: consumer
  context: Ordinary inhabitants weighed the burden of contributing labor and resources against promised security benefits.
  excerpt: My family loses two workers to construction each month. The walls rise, yes, but my children go hungry. Security means nothing if we starve.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 61
  attribution: Synthesized from period settlement testimony
  publishedAt: 8500-08-03
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Archaeological observer from neighboring Tel es-Sawwan
  voiceType: expert
  context: Other Natufian settlements watched closely to understand whether monumental architecture signaled cultural advancement or desperation.
  excerpt: Jericho's tower is unprecedented - a statement that this settlement has moved beyond seasonal camps. Whether this signals civilization or fear, time will judge.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 79
  attribution: Synthesized from comparative settlement studies
  publishedAt: 8500-09-22
  originalLanguage: en
