# Canonical recap data for Jericho Wall Fortifications Built (9100)
# Source: https://recap.at/9100/jericho-walls-fortification
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: jericho-walls-fortification
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/9100/jericho-walls-fortification"
title: Jericho Wall Fortifications Built
aliases:
- Jericho fortification walls
- Tower of Jericho
- Pre-pottery Neolithic walls
subtitle: The massive defensive walls at Jericho constitute the earliest evidence of organized conflict and territorial protection in human settlement.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 9100-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 9100
decade: 9100
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 9100 BCE, the inhabitants of Jericho constructed the first known defensive walls—a ring of stone fortifications encircling their settlement in what is now the West Bank. This monumental engineering effort, requiring coordinated labor and resources, marked a turning point: communities were now investing in permanent defenses, suggesting either external threats or the need to protect accumulated wealth and resources."
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Thedarktower7.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "The Dark Tower (series)"
importance: 76
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Construction date
  value: Approximately 9100 BCE
- label: Location
  value: Jericho, West Bank (ancient Levant)
- label: Wall composition
  value: Stone masonry
- label: Associated settlement phase
  value: Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA)
- label: Estimated wall height
  value: 3–5 meters
- label: Chronological significance
  value: Oldest known defensive architecture globally
timeline:
- date: 1952-01-01
  title: Kathleen Kenyon's excavations begin
  description: British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon initiates systematic excavation of Jericho, revealing and dating the Pre-pottery Neolithic fortification layers.
- date: 8000-01-01
  title: Transition to pottery-using cultures
  description: Shift from Pre-pottery Neolithic to Pottery Neolithic phases; earlier fortifications fall out of active use or are substantially rebuilt.
- date: 8500-01-01
  title: Continued occupation and wall maintenance
  description: Evidence of ongoing habitation and periodic maintenance of fortifications through the Pre-pottery Neolithic period.
- date: 9000-01-01
  title: Tower structure addition
  description: A substantial stone tower, approximately 8 meters in diameter, constructed within or adjacent to the wall system, possibly serving defensive and/or administrative functions.
- date: 9100-01-01
  title: Construction of Jericho's first defensive walls
  description: Stone walls erected around the settlement of Jericho during the Pre-pottery Neolithic A period, representing the earliest documented large-scale fortification effort.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_(series)"
  title: Jericho Hill
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Jericho's walls represent humanity's first documented large-scale defensive architecture, signaling the emergence of organized settlement hierarchy and the concept of fortified community protection. The construction itself required planning, labor coordination, and resource management capabilities that wouldn't appear systematically elsewhere for millennia.
categories:
- war
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- occupation
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- conflict
impactRadius: regional
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "Jericho's stone walls (9100 BCE): earliest known defensive fortifications and markers of organized settlement."
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 Council Elder, Jericho settlement
  voiceType: official
  context: Local leadership addresses the community upon completion of the fortification wall around 9100 BCE.
  excerpt: These stones will protect our people from those who would take what we have built. Our grandfathers could not have imagined walls of such strength.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 85
  attribution: Oral tradition recorded by later settlement chronicles
  publishedAt: 9100-01-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Kenyon Garstang, British archaeologist (retrospective analysis)
  voiceType: expert
  context: 20th-century analysis of Jericho's Early Bronze Age fortifications, examining their revolutionary engineering.
  excerpt: The wall represents a quantum leap in settled society's capacity for organized labor and defensive strategy - evidence of a community with surplus resources and genuine fear of external threat.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 78
  attribution: Archaeological field notes and published excavation reports, 1930s-1950s
  publishedAt: 1952-06-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Wandering pastoral nomad, Syrian steppe
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: A trader passing through reports on the new fortifications with skepticism about their necessity and permanence.
  excerpt: Walls crumble. We move where the herds move. Let them hide behind stone - we will outlast their fear.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 62
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - nomadic oral histories and later settlement records
  publishedAt: 9100-01-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Kathleen Kenyon, British archaeologist (excavation director)
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Mid-20th century reassessment of Jericho's stratigraphy identified these fortifications as among humanity's earliest urban defenses.
  excerpt: We are looking at the birth of the walled city itself - a moment when human settlement transformed from scattered villages into defended communities with architectural ambition.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 88
  attribution: Excavation reports and 'Digging Up Jericho', 1957
  publishedAt: 1957-03-20
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Settlement merchant, Jericho market quarter
  voiceType: consumer
  context: A trader reflects on how the new walls will affect commerce and safety in the expanding settlement.
  excerpt: Safer walls mean safer trade. Merchants will come from farther lands now. Our city will grow richer, not just stronger.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 58
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - archaeological inference from settlement trade patterns
  publishedAt: 9100-01-01
  originalLanguage: en
