Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

At 16.01 21/01/99 -0500, Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG wrote:
>How about a straight archaeological question concerning the MB walls 
>of Jericho which Ian mentions several times. For I am confused about 
>the detailed scenario here. Do these walls now survive?

Yes.

>Are they now standing upright, 

Yes.

>or have they fallen down, or are they partly 
>upright? (Was one of your arguments that these cannot be the walls 
>which fell in Joshua's time as they are still upright, 

Yes.

>or did I 
>misunderstand you?) How long (according to normal archaeological 
>reckoning) would such walls have remained upright, not buried and 
>looking like real city walls rather than ruins? Does the answer depend 
>on whether the city was inhabited or abandoned during this period?

My unlearned opinion on this is that inhabitation will cause the internal
levels to rise while perhaps maintaining the walls -- if the population is
large enough (Kenyon's reference to "settlement" indicates something quite
small and only quasi-sedentary). Abandonment will allow a buildup of wind
carried detritus. (As I said unlearned.)


Ian