Tel Jericho

Some 2.5km/1.5mi northwest of Jericho's central square, opposite Elisha's Spring (also known as the Sultan's Spring, Ain es-Sultan), is the tell which marks the site of ancient Jericho. Archeological investigation of the site began in 1860, but at first was unrewarding (in his test dig Charles Warren just missed a stone tower). In 1906-07 Sellin and Watzinger continued the work, but no major successes were achieved until the British excavations of 1930-31. The thorough investigations of Kathleen Kenyon in the 1950s marked an important step forward.

On the tell of Jericho, standing 21m/69ft high and covering an area of 40,000sq.m/44,000sq.yd, Kathleen Kenyon identified 23 occupation levels. The oldest traces of human settlement date