Jericho — Bronze Age Destruction and the Book of Joshua

Jericho — Bronze Age Destruction and the Book of Joshua

Sources attempted:

• Kennedy 2023 MDPI article: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/6/796 — fetch/extraction blocked
• Biblical Archaeology Society overview: https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/did-the-israelites-conquer-jericho-a-new-look-at-the-archaeological-evidence/ — blocked by 403

What the Scholarly Discussion Is About

• The destruction of Bronze Age Jericho is one of the most debated topics in biblical archaeology.
• Kathleen Kenyon’s mid-20th-century excavations dated the final destruction of Jericho’s fortified city (City IV) to c. 1550 B.C.E., well before the traditional Israelite conquest date.
• Bryant Wood and, more recently, Douglas Petrovich and others have challenged the dating, arguing that the destruction evidence (fallen walls, burned city, stored grain) better fits a Late Bronze Age conquest around 1400 B.C.E.
• The 2023 MDPI article by Kennedy, “The Bronze Age Destruction of Jericho, Archaeology, and the Book of Joshua,” reviews the evidence and argues for re-evaluating the chronology in light of radiocarbon and stratigraphic data.

Key Points (from available summaries)

• Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) shows evidence of a heavily fortified Bronze Age city with massive walls.
• A destruction layer includes collapsed mudbrick walls and extensive burning.
• Some researchers connect this to Joshua 6 (walls falling, city devoted to destruction).
• Others argue the timing does not align with the Israelite conquest and that the biblical account reflects later memory or tradition.

What It May Corroborate

• A major fortified Bronze Age city existed at Jericho and was violently destroyed.
• The archaeological profile (walls, fire, abandonment) is broadly consistent with the dramatic account in Joshua 6.
• The main disagreement is chronology: whether the destruction happened c. 1400 B.C.E. (early Exodus/Conquest) or c. 1550 B.C.E. (Middle Bronze Age).

Status

This find is contested. Mainstream scholarship generally places the destruction earlier than the traditional Conquest, while maximalist and some evangelical scholars argue for a later date matching Joshua. Because the primary sources could not be retrieved, this summary is based on secondary descriptions and search snippets.

KJV Connection

• Joshua 2 (Rahab and the spies)
• Joshua 6 (the fall of Jericho)

Note

The full text of the Kennedy 2023 MDPI article and the BAS overview were blocked during collection. You may want to open them directly in a browser or request them through a library for the complete argument and data.