Creation Research Database

The Walls of Jericho: Dating Joshua's Conquest of Canaan

Habermehl, Anne (2024) The Walls of Jericho: Dating Joshua's Conquest of Canaan. Answers Research Journal, 17: 1. pp. 1-8. ISSN 1937-9056

Abstract

Determining when Jericho was overthrown by Joshua's army is significant because it not only supports the date of the Exodus, but it also dates the conquest of Canaan. This date must also synchronize with the destruction of Ai and Hazor, two Canaanite cities destroyed at about the same time. Biblical archaeologists have disagreed over which Jericho wall fell for Joshua, and which was the later wall built by Hiel in the time of Ahab. In this paper it will be shown that Joshua's wall was the one destroyed at the end of the Early Bronze IIIB period and Hiel's wall dates to the Middle Bronze I. In addition, the great Middle Bronze II–III embankment fortification that is widely and erroneously considered to be Joshua's wall was built sometime after Hiel's wall. Some scholars have pointed to the wrong Jericho walls because they do not recognize divergence of the biblical and standard timelines, or they disregard factors such as culture changes before and after Joshua's destruction. Others do not recognize the authority of the Bible, but express doubt that Joshua's conquest of Jericho ever happened at all; their conventional dating of the event is usually the reason for this disbelief.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: C Sciences of History (General) > CC Archaeology
B Philosophy (General) > BB The Bible > BB4 Biblical Chronology
Depositing User: Admin
Date Deposited: 04 Sep 2026 23:42
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2026 23:42
URI: https://crsq.creationresearch.org/id/eprint/1549

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