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ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE

Jericho -- The Walls DID Come uncovered in the earlier excavations, it fits the Biblical
Tumbling Down! story perfectly!

"The Italian excavation actually uncovered most of the
In the spring of 1997, two Italian archaeologists con- critical evidence relating to the Biblical story," said
ducted a limited excavation on the ancient tell of Wood. "But even more exciting is the fact that all the
Jericho. Lorenzo Nigro and Nicolo Marchetti, working evidence from the earlier digs has disappeared over
under the auspices of the new Palestinian Department time. We only have records, drawings and photos. But
of Archaeology, excavated for one month on the the Italians uncovered a completely new section of the
fringes of Kathleen Kenyon's west and south trenches. wall which we did not know still existed. I had my pho-
Their dig was the first foreign expedition in the tograph taken standing next to the wall where the mud-
Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank since brick collapse had just been excavated.
self-rule began in 1994.
Unfortunately, the Italian archaeologists, the Palestin-
After their excavation, Nigro and Marchetti announced ian Authorities, the Associated Press and most of the
they found no evidence for a destruction from the time world doesn't realize any of this. It is a sad commen-
of Joshua. While it is too soon for the academic com- tary on the state of archaeology in the Holy Land,
munity to see details of their discoveries, their an- when the purpose of an excavation at a Biblical site is
nouncement suggests their excavation was conducted to disprove the Bible and disassociate the site with any
to disprove the Biblical account of Joshua's capture of historical Jewish connection.
the city. Is it further possible that the Palestinian
Authority supported this dig for the express purpose of But that's why the Associates for Biblical Research is
denouncing any Jewish connection to the site?
in business. Please pray for our efforts. Pray for the
removal of all obstacles blocking the publication of
As to their evidence, Dr. Bryant Wood, Director of the Dr. Wood's technical study of the pottery of Jericho.
Associates for Biblical Research and one of the lead-
ing experts on the archaeology of Jericho, recently re-
sponded. "It matters little what the Italian Pharaohs and Kings Confused
archaeologists did not find in their month-long dig.
The evidence is already in. Three major expeditions to Over the past several years, British historian David
the site over the past 90 years uncovered abundant evi- Rohl has captured the imagination of many Bible stu-
dence to support the Biblical account," he said. A dents and at the same time created quite a stir among
Wood went on to point out, John Garstang scholars. Through his book Pharaohs and Kings: A
(1930-1936) and Kathleen Kenyon (1952-1958) both Biblical Quest (Crown, 1995) and a video by the same
dug at Jericho for six seasons and a German excavation name, Rohl has attempted to completely overhaul an-
directed by Ernst Sellin and Carl Watzinger dug for cient Near Eastern chronology. His purpose is to tie
three. All found abundant evidence of the city's de- together Biblical personages and events to similar
struction by fire in a layer related to the Biblical date sounding references in ancient historical records. To
of 1400 BC. bolster his case, he quotes a number of experts in their
respective fields of Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Assyrian
In September 1997, Dr. Wood visited Jericho and ex- and Israelite history.
amined the results of the Italian excavation first hand.
Incredibly, he found the Italians had uncovered the While the scope of his work is vast and hinges on a
stone outer revetment wall at the base of the tell with number of technical issues, it can be summarized as
part of the mudbrick wall built on top of it still intact. follows. Rohl proposed a realignment of ancient Near
In the balk of the Italian excavation, at the outer base Eastern chronologies, shifting dates up to 350 years.
of the revetment wall, Wood noticed the remains of His work attempts to fill the gaps we presently have in
the collapsed mudbrick city walls which had tumbled. ancient chronologies, allowing the identification of
Not only did the Italians find the same evidence

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