The walls of Jericho did come tumbling down as recounted in the Bible, according to an archaeological study.
"When we compare the archaeological evidence at Jericho with the biblical narrative describing the Israelite destruction of Jericho, we find remarkable agreement," said archaeologist Byrant G. Wood of the University of Toronto.After studying data from recently published excavation reports of British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon, Wood wrote in the March-April issue of the scholarly journal, Biblical Archaeology Review:
"Here is impressive evidence that the walls of Jericho did indeed topple as the Bible records."
Kenyon had concluded after her excavations in the 1950s that the fortified city was destroyed about 1550 B.C. and was no longer there at the time of the Israelite invasion dated after 1400 B.C.
As a result, for about 30 years, "scholars by and large have written off the biblical record as so much folklore and religious rhetoric," Wood said.
However, he said extensive ceramic remnants and a carbon-14 sample contradict Kenyon's dating of the city's fall, and other evidence converged to support the biblical account.
"The correlation between the archaeological evidence and the biblical narrative is substantial," he said.
As described in Joshua 6, Joshua's army marched around the city for a week, blowing rams' horns, and on the seventh day, combined shouting with the piercing horns, "and the wall fell down flat."
Wood noted that collapsed mud bricks were found outside a thick lower revetment wall where they had fallen, and apparently served as a ramp for the Israelites, described as going "up" into the city.
Also, the Bible relates the event occurred after spring harvest, and that the Israelites burned the city - both factors confirmed by the archeological remains, Wood said.
He said the siege of the city obviously was short as indicated by the large amounts of scorched grain found.
"The presence of these grain stores in the destroyed city is entirely consistent with the biblical account," Wood wrote. "The city did not fall as a result of a starvation siege, as was so common in ancient times.
"Instead, the Bible tells us Jericho was destroyed after but seven days."
Wood noted that Jericho is situated in the Rift Valley, an unstable region where earthquakes are frequent, and he suggested a quake could have caused both the tumbling wall and also temporary blocking of the Jordan river.
That is described in Joshua 3:16, allowing the Israelites to cross on land.