# Canonical recap data for Battle of Jericho Walls Fall (9600)
# Source: https://recap.at/9600/jericho-siege
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: jericho-siege
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/9600/jericho-siege"
title: Battle of Jericho Walls Fall
aliases:
- Fall of Jericho
- Jericho Wall Collapse
- Destruction of Early Jericho
- PPNB Jericho
- Tell es-Sultan destruction
subtitle: The siege and destruction of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Jericho represents archaeology's earliest documented walled city conflict and military engineering in the 10000s BCE.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 9600-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 9600
decade: 9600
country:
name: Palestine
slug: palestine
summaryShort: Jericho is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. The city is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west.
summaryLong: Jericho is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. The city is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west.
lede: Around 9600 BCE, the walls of Jericho—one of humanity's oldest continuously inhabited settlements—fell, though the archaeological record suggests this happened gradually over centuries rather than in a single dramatic collapse. The city's destruction marked a transition in the Jordan Valley's settlement patterns and remains one of archaeology's most debated events, partly because biblical accounts describe a supernatural collapse that contradicts what excavations have revealed.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Tell_es-sultan.jpg/1280px-Tell_es-sultan.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Jericho"
importance: 68
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Location
  value: Tell es-Sultan, Jordan Valley, West Bank
- label: Approximate date
  value: 9600 BCE (Early Neolithic)
- label: Wall height (pre-collapse)
  value: 7 meters (estimated)
- label: Settlement age at collapse
  value: Occupied since circa 9650 BCE
- label: Population estimate
  value: 1,000–3,000 residents
- label: Primary excavator
  value: Kathleen Kenyon (1952–1958)
- label: Settlement phases
  value: Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) and B (PPNB)
timeline:
- date: 1952-01-01
  title: Kathleen Kenyon excavations begin
  description: British archaeologist Kenyon begins systematic excavation of Tell es-Sultan, challenging earlier interpretations and establishing modern stratigraphic methods for the site.
- date: 1958-01-01
  title: Kenyon's excavations conclude
  description: Publication of findings introduces alternative explanations for wall destruction, moving away from catastrophic collapse narratives toward gradual decline and erosion.
- date: 9300-01-01
  title: Settlement resumes
  description: Evidence of new occupation phases at Jericho, suggesting recovery and renewed population movement into the site.
- date: 9400-01-01
  title: Wall destruction and abandonment
  description: Archaeological evidence indicates walls collapsed or were dismantled; settlement appears abandoned or significantly depopulated, though reasons remain debated.
- date: 9500-01-01
  title: PPNB phase begins
  description: Transition to Pre-pottery Neolithic B with larger settlements, expanded walls, and tower construction, including the famous circular tower.
- date: 9600-01-01
  title: Construction of stone walls
  description: First fortification walls built around the settlement, suggesting organized labor and communal defense strategies.
- date: 9650-01-01
  title: Jericho settlement begins
  description: Pre-pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) settlement established in the Jordan Valley, initially without defensive walls.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho"
  title: Jericho, Palestine
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Jericho's transformation around 9600 BCE reshaped understanding of early urban development in the Levant and raised enduring questions about how archaeology, oral tradition, and physical evidence relate to each other. The site became central to debates about the Neolithic Revolution and the emergence of defensible settlements.
categories:
- war
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- occupation
- invasion
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- collapse
- transformation
impactRadius: regional
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: coordinated
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: transition
metaDescription: Jericho's walls fell around 9600 BCE, marking a pivotal shift in early Levantine settlement patterns and urban organization.
wikidataQid: Q5687
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260626111345/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-26
  label: Jericho, Palestine
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho"
