Stone wall and tower of Jericho
Muralla y torre de piedra (fortificación / obra hidráulica)
- Date
- c. 8000 BCE · confidence high
- Place
- Jericho (Tell es-Sultan), West Bank
- Credited to
- PPNA communities of Jericho
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A 3.6 m stone wall and a solid 8.5 m tower with an internal staircase, the first monumental public work built by a settlement. Whether defence, a flood barrier or a ritual marker, it required organised labour from the whole community.
Its function is disputed: defence (Kenyon), flood protection (Bar-Yosef) or a ritual solstice observatory (Barkai and Liran).
What it led to
- Directed collective labour, the seed of political authority
- A distinction between inside and outside the settlement: communal identity and territory
- A precedent for city walls and defensive thinking
Built on
- Mud brick (adobe)c. 9000 BCE
- Block masonry