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| Canaanite bichrome-ware jug from graves LVII at Ras Shamra in Syria (ca. 17th to 16th cent. BC). Ashmolean Museum © David E. Graves |
"A range of distinctive pottery vessels decorated in red and black with feature geometric fired over fish and geometric designs appeared before the end of the Middle Bronze Age (ca. 1600 BC) at sites like Tell el-Ajjul (City II) and Megiddo (Stratum X) in Israel and at Tell el-Dabe [Avaris/Pi-Rameses] in the Egyptian Delta. It remained in use through the first phase of the Late Bronze Age. It was widely distributed through Palestine, western Syria and Cyprus."There is however a major controversy surrounding the date of the destruction of Jericho, primarily between Dr. Bryant Wood (PhD in Canaanite pottery) and Dame Kathleen Kenyan who dug Jericho in the 1950's (52-58). The Kenyon/Wood debate is well documented at the Associates for Biblical Research site (see video of Dr. Bryant Wood explaining the walls of Jericho). It has been called the "Second Battle for Jericho." It is relevant as Kenyan’s excavation reports were not published until after her death and so scholars did not have the opportunity to examine her research and finds but had to just take her word for her dates and what she had found.
Garstang's "bichrome ware" pottery and
Bryant Wood's drawing of the LB1 pieces.A recent (2021) Discovery Channel program titled "Jericho's Buried Secrets Unearthed" was wonderfully illustrated with animation and described the destruction of the double wall and short siege of the city due to the jars full of grain that were found just as the Bible states. However, then to determine the date for the destruction of Jericho they cut to the city of Megiddo (some 120 km /75 miles away) rather than looking at the archaeological evidence excavated at Jericho (nice slight of hand to divert the evidence).
Plate from Kenyon book showing
the LB 1 Pottery she excavated.They did not mention the debated date for the destruction at Jericho but went to the excavation site of Megiddo and interviewed noted minimalist archaeologist Israel Finkelstein who dug at Megiddo (never dug at Jericho) to date the destruction of Jericho (nice slight of hand as he is known to deny the biblical account as never happened). Also Franklin (who dug with Kenyon) states "The archaeological evidence leaves no option but to accept that there was no LB city of Jericho ca. 1400 or c. 1200 on or around 'ain es Sultan. . . the huge ruins of the Hyksos city gave rise to the FOLKTALE attached to the hero Joshua. H. J. Franken, "Tell es-Sultan and Old Testament Jericho." Oudtestamentische Studiën 14 (1965): 189-200.
But was there Late Bronze I (1500-1400 BC) destruction? The photo above from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford displays the Canaanite bichrome ware pottery and this type of pottery was used in the Late Bronze I period. Both Garstang and Kenyon document finding this type of pottery in the destruction layer of Jericho level IV (see image of Kenyon's plate), that proves that the city of Jericho was destroyed in the Late Bronze I period the time of the Conquest (according to the early date of the Exodus). This was also corroborated by the discovery of several scarabs and seals by Garstang. These can be dated to the Late Bronze Age.
In the interest of intellectual honesty you would have thought that the Discovery Channel producers would have at last mention this but no they chose to ignore it and interview over and over again Israel Finkelstein who states that the biblical account of the destruction of Jericho never happened. And that is the conclusion that uninformed viewers watching were left with. Not even presenting the opposing view.They conclude by saying that it was destroyed by an earthquake, which I can agree with. The miracle is that it was destroyed when God said it would happen as recorded in the ancient reliable text. The pottery and scarabs tell us it happened in the Late Bronze Age I (1500-1400 BC).
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