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00:02Ancient Jericho.
00:04The site of a legendary biblical battle.
00:09A seven day siege that brings the city's mighty walls crashing down.
00:14But is there any truth to this tale?
00:18Undisturbed for thousands of years, investigators now unearth Jericho's secrets.
00:24I mean, this preceded the pyramids, preceded Stonehenge. It's extraordinary.
00:30To discover not one, but many ancient city walls, destroyed again and again.
00:38We can see thousands and thousands and thousands, even tens of thousands of years into the past.
00:44Today, teams venture into underground caves and use pioneering micro-CT technology
00:50to unearth the secrets of Jericho's lost inhabitants for the very first time.
00:56And hunt for evidence of violent invasions.
01:00People didn't have the chance to retrieve their belongings.
01:04How does Jericho rise to become the world's first fortified city?
01:09And who is responsible for its apocalyptic downfall?
01:14To uncover the truth, we'll unearth this ancient city layer by layer.
01:20We'll digitally reconstruct its mighty walls.
01:25Venture deep inside its monumental tower.
01:29And forensically examine long-buried skeletons.
01:34To finally decode the legendary Bible story.
01:45Jericho, an ancient city in Palestine, on the west bank of the river Jordan.
01:52This city finds fame in the book of Joshua.
01:57Jericho is the first city conquered by Israelites returning from Exodus in Egypt.
02:02The setting for one of the most epic battles in biblical history.
02:11According to the Bible, over 3,000 years ago, Jericho is a powerful city.
02:18Inner and outer walls, strengthened with rectangular towers, offer a double layer of protection from outside danger.
02:28Israelites lay siege to the city for six days and nights.
02:32On the seventh day, the priests triumphantly blow ram's horns.
02:38And the walls come tumbling down.
02:43Jericho is conquered.
02:45It's one of the Bible's most famous stories.
02:49But how much of it is true?
02:58Archaeologist Mahmood Hawari has been investigating ancient Jericho for over 15 years.
03:05Today, he hunts for evidence of Jericho's legendary Great Wall.
03:11Despite the legend and the story mentioned in the Bible, Jericho is a real place.
03:19As soon as archaeologists begin the search for the Great Wall, they make a surprising discovery.
03:24The site is a gold mine of evidence, revealing not one, but many ancient walls that date back over thousands
03:34of years.
03:36Jericho, or the Telus Sultan, the ancient site of Jericho.
03:41The Tel is an Arabic word for mound where accumulation of layers upon layers of civilizations are in the same
03:49place.
03:52Beneath the top layers of rubble and debris, archaeologists unearth evidence of an ancient fortified city surrounded by mud brick
04:01walls and rectangular towers.
04:05Deeper down, an older wall encircles 70 mud brick houses built on stone foundations.
04:15Excavation to the deepest level reveals an even older city, with walls 12 feet high and 5 feet wide.
04:23And a huge cylindrical tower that rises 28 feet into the air.
04:30But do any of these walls date to biblical times?
04:37Mahmood examines a cross section of a wall in the deepest excavation pit.
04:43It's built from simple stones with mortar and earth between them.
04:49The style of construction allows Mahmood to date the walls.
04:54This goes back to around 9,000 BCE.
04:59It's quite impressive that now we're looking at such an old wall dating almost 11,000 years old.
05:06It's extraordinary.
05:09If these walls date to 11,000 years ago, they are far older than the Bible story.
05:16Between this wall and the biblical story of the storming of the city by the Israelites, we are talking about
05:247,000 years difference.
05:26And that tells you that Jericho existed a long, long time ago before the biblical story happened.
05:34Carbon dating organic material from these walls places their construction in the 9th millennium BC.
05:41And makes it the oldest city wall discovered anywhere in the world.
05:48When this wall was built, humans were still roaming around the earth, collecting and gathering their food.
05:55And they were living in open spaces or in caves.
05:59And so that's why Jericho is so special and so significant.
06:03Are these walls evidence of hunter-gatherers assembling to build huge structures for the first time in history?
06:12Palestinian archaeologist Issa Sari has been excavating ancient Jericho for many years.
06:19His findings shine a light on the first great wall and the people who built it.
06:26Jericho is the first time where we have witnesses the transformation from the hunter-gatherer way of life
06:32to advent of sedentary way of life that people come along together and having their own production of food.
06:39For Issa, Jericho is at the heart of the Neolithic revolution.
06:44A transition from hunting and gathering to farming and settlement.
06:50Jericho is the core, actually the core city of the history of humanity.
06:55It's one of the key sites that brought a lot to the humankind and to history in general.
07:01Why is Jericho the chosen site for this leap in human civilization?
07:07The landscape offers the perfect geographical location for these early settlers.
07:15The area is blessed with a natural spring.
07:19The Bible says the prophet Elisha purifies the water.
07:24The spring of Talis Sultan is very important.
07:27It's the reason why the people already started here.
07:30And it's the reason why the people still flourishing in Jericho.
07:34So it's sustaining the city until now.
07:42Jericho's spring provides a reliable and predictable supply of safe fresh water.
07:46And attracts hunter-gatherers to settle here 11,000 years ago.
07:52Small communities gather around the spring.
07:55And use the water to grow cereal and grains and raise livestock.
08:00This is some of the first farming on the planet.
08:05The people start to build permanent structures here.
08:07Including simple homes made from mud brick.
08:11And mighty walls.
08:14Eventually Jericho grows into a full-fledged permanent settlement of more than 2,000 people.
08:21To become the world's first city.
08:30This is the dome of human civilization where things really happened and gave way to what will become our world
08:39many thousands of years later.
08:46The walls at Jericho are built by the world's first settlers in a vast oasis.
08:517,000 years before the Bible's story of its destruction.
08:55But what is the purpose of this first great wall?
08:59The discovery of a mysterious tower could provide clues.
09:03Are these monumental structures built to defend against a violent invasion as the Bible describes?
09:22Jericho, the oldest city in the world.
09:26Its past is intertwined with biblical stories of dramatic conquest and tumbling walls.
09:34Now, the discovery of a city wall almost 11,000 years old traces the legend back much further than previously
09:42imagined.
09:43When you think about the pyramids that were built around 2,500 BCE, I mean, this preceded the pyramids, preceded
09:52Stonehenge.
09:53Built more than 5,000 years before these ancient wonders, the walls at Jericho are among the oldest structures in
10:01the world.
10:02I would imagine when people traveling from afar coming towards Jericho and seeing this massive wall for the first time,
10:12they would see they'd never seen something like this before.
10:17Why do the world's first human settlers build this monumental wall here in Jericho?
10:23An unexpected discovery may provide clues to the answer.
10:30On the western edge of the city, a monumental tower rises 28 feet above the surrounding landscape.
10:40Measuring 33 feet across, it's made from hundreds of hand-crafted and sun-dried bricks.
10:50Inside, a steep staircase leads to an opening in the tower's roof.
10:59Outside, a fine white limestone plaster covers the surface, making it a dazzling beacon on the landscape.
11:08When they're built, Jericho's monumental wall and tower rise taller than any other structure on the planet.
11:18Why do Jericho's people go to such extreme efforts to build these colossal structures?
11:24Once you find in a site a wall and a tower, it makes you wonder why people would build that.
11:32Forensic anthropologist Gila May investigates the role this tower plays in the everyday lives of the inhabitants of Jericho.
11:41Gila suspects the purpose of the tower is to provide the city dwellers with a clear line of sight.
11:47An early warning system, or watchtower, to guard against enemy attack.
11:52I'm sure that the size and the wealth of the people in Jericho brought enemies and they wanted to protect
12:00their land and their property and their families.
12:04Gila believes that these settlers feel threatened enough to construct this huge watchtower.
12:10But she needs proof that the threat of attack is a very real one.
12:15We need to know what is warfare and what is interpersonal violence, and for that we need physical evidence.
12:22Gila looks for clues in bodies found near Jericho's crumbling walls.
12:28Investigators unearth these 25 skeletons in a region called the Jezreel Valley.
12:34They date back to 7000 BC.
12:38When we are looking at bones of people that lived so many years ago, we look at their bones and
12:43they tell us the story.
12:45You don't see here anything, right?
12:47But I can tell you it is a vertebra.
12:49It belongs to a young male.
12:51We have part of his skeleton.
12:53It's the first rustic vertebral body in the base of our neck.
12:56And what is surprising in that vertebra is that I see something is stuck inside it.
13:05Gila uses pioneering micro-CT technology to reconstruct the vertebra and digitally enter the very bone itself.
13:15Within the neck of this ancient male, she discovers something extraordinary.
13:21It's the tip of an arrowhead that penetrated about two centimeters into the body of the vertebra.
13:29And once we found out that there is a tip of an arrowhead, we took an arrowhead that was found
13:36in the site,
13:37and we could reconstruct how it penetrates and how it was stuck in the vertebral body.
13:46Gila finds evidence of some of the world's earliest weapons and the first ever found in the region.
13:53When we find weapon in prehistoric terms, which is arrowhead, we can tell that it's like something that is more
14:01organized or warfare, what we call.
14:06This Neolithic arrowhead found near Jericho is among the oldest evidence of warfare discovered.
14:14The ancient city of Jericho is right to be on its guard.
14:21People at that time, in the Neolithic, in Jericho, I think were very practical people.
14:27And I think they wanted to defend themselves in their own settlement.
14:32The tower is a monumental symbol of strength to outsiders that still stands to this day.
14:41Wow, I'm actually speechless to look into this staircase.
14:48But it's not a closed case.
14:50Some experts believe the tower is not defensive, but is central to an ancient ritual.
14:57On the evening of the summer solstice, the setting sun aligns with nearby Mount Caruntal and the tower, casting a
15:05massive shadow over the site.
15:09Inside the tower, a community leader ceremonially climbs the 22 steps, ascending towards the light.
15:20When he reaches the roof of the tower, a ceremony takes place to honor the dying rays of the sun.
15:29At the base of the tower, the people of Jericho gather to witness the dramatic event that signals the start
15:36of shorter days and longer nights.
15:43The tower could be the focus of a sun-worshipping cult.
15:47There is a controversy over the nature or the function of this tower.
15:53Whatever its ancient purpose, today the inside of this tower is off-limits.
15:58Years after its discovery, the tower still remains a tantalizing mystery.
16:04Often archaeology, unfortunately, doesn't give all the comprehensive answers.
16:09An imposing defensive monolith or a temple for worship.
16:14Even a prototype for ziggurats and pyramids.
16:18The oldest and tallest structure of its time.
16:22The Tower of Jericho is humankind's first skyscraper.
16:28The Bible tells the story of a violent siege at ancient Jericho.
16:33When investigators unearth ancient houses within the walls,
16:38they find troublesome clues hidden beneath the floors.
16:42Are these decapitated skeletons conclusive evidence that this biblical tale is true?
16:59Ancient Jericho, the world's oldest city and the site of a legendary biblical battle.
17:08It lies in the shadow of a monumental wall and tower.
17:12Its fortifications offer safety and enable the city to grow to over 2,000 people.
17:18But investigators uncover evidence that suggests these walls are breached.
17:27Beneath the mud brick houses.
17:31Archeologists make a gruesome discovery.
17:34Buried under the floors of homes, they unearth decapitated human skeletons.
17:42Nearby, they find something even stranger.
17:47Seven skulls with faces made of plaster.
17:52Their eyes inlaid with the shells of sea creatures.
17:57Some have even been painted to imitate hair and mustaches.
18:02Are these bizarre skulls evidence of a biblical slaughter?
18:13There are a lot of explanations, a lot of hypotheses raised in the last 20 or 30 years
18:19since the first plastered skulls were discovered.
18:23Physical anthropologist Israel Hershkovits forensically analyzes ancient bones.
18:30Interesting is the chin with like, I myself have it here, the depression here, which is nice.
18:36This is why I fall in love with this skull.
18:39At Tel Aviv University, Israel investigates plastered skulls found in the region of Jericho.
18:49Some archaeologists believe that these skulls belong to victims of the brutal battle for Jericho.
18:56But Israel has another theory.
18:58You don't bury your enemy inside your house.
19:01That's something that you don't need.
19:03You don't take the trouble to bury your enemy inside your house.
19:07But what I'm sure about it is that the individuals that are buried under the living floor
19:12were members of the family who owned the house.
19:16This practice dates back to Jericho's first Neolithic settlers.
19:20But why would the people of ancient Jericho decapitate their own family members?
19:26They took care of their dead in a very peculiar way.
19:29It was important to them.
19:30I mean, to make this kind of a connection between the world of the living and the world of the
19:36dead.
19:37In ancient Jericho, these decapitated heads are a powerful symbol of ancestry.
19:43Their creation is a time-consuming and delicate procedure.
19:49First, mourners dig a grave in the plastered floor of their house.
19:55And then bury the body inside.
20:01After a year or two, when the flesh has decomposed,
20:06they exhume the skull from the grave.
20:12They remove the teeth and lower jaw.
20:16And then apply plaster and decoration to the skull.
20:23On special occasions, the family may gather together with the skull's center stage
20:29in a ceremony to honor their ancestors.
20:33The skulls form part of what Israel calls an ancestral cult.
20:38You declare ownership through your ancestors.
20:42My ancestors were here.
20:44They owned the land.
20:44So this land belongs to me as well.
20:47The American example is Mount Rushmore, where you have the four important American presidents.
20:54This is my land.
20:55Here are the forefathers of the American nation.
20:59For Israel, Mount Rushmore is America's version of the plastered skull,
21:04staking a claim on the land.
21:06A declaration that goes back to ancient times.
21:14These plastered skulls are the earliest evidence of ancestor worship in the world.
21:20And this reverence for the dead leads Jericho to become a strong and powerful unified city.
21:28And for Israel, a source of endless fascination.
21:33Anthropologists are attached to the skeleton more than they're attached to some close relatives.
21:38And you never get tired because they hide so many secrets that they want to tell you.
21:44It's kind of a challenge, like saying, let's see how smart you are.
21:48The plastered skulls shine light on life inside Jericho's ancient city walls.
21:55This city of 2,000 people is bound together by ancestral worship.
22:01Protected by its mighty wall and imposing tower.
22:06But as Jericho grows from strength to strength, it becomes a target for attack.
22:13Can Jericho's population fend off the looming dangers?
22:17Evidence amongst the ruins may provide clues to the Great Wall's fate.
22:22Do the walls really tumble as the Bible describes?
22:38The ancient city of Jericho.
22:42Home to key turning points in the history of humankind.
22:48The world's first city wall.
22:50The origins of civilization.
22:53And an ancient skyscraper.
22:56The biblical story of Jericho tells of a mighty siege tumbling the great walls of this city.
23:02But is there any evidence of an event of this scale here?
23:09Excavating deep into Jericho's past,
23:12archaeologists discover intriguing clues to the city's turbulent history.
23:17Once vertical walls now lie flat to the ground.
23:22Beneath them, investigators find a collection of skeletons.
23:28The bodies lie frozen in time, suddenly crushed by the wall.
23:33Around them, a chaotic mixture of bricks and fallen roof beams.
23:38And in a nearby house, an ancestral grave is split in two,
23:43by a huge crack running across the floor.
23:48Are these clues evidence of an earth-shattering conquest, as the Bible describes?
23:56Archaeologist Mahmood Hawari suspects this devastation could actually be evidence of something even bigger.
24:03This country has been subjected to earthquakes many hundreds and thousands of years.
24:10Jericho sits along the Syrian-African fault line,
24:14making this region a hotspot for tectonic activity.
24:20Could earthquakes be responsible for the collapse of Jericho's walls?
24:26Earthquakes that are large enough to actually cause structural damage to, in historic times, to buildings,
24:32are somewhere between magnitude four and a half, five.
24:37Geologist Elisa Kagan hunts for evidence of major earthquakes of this scale in the region's ancient past.
24:45She ventures into Sorek Cave, 25 miles southwest of Jericho, to search for clues.
24:52Caves are very protected from the elements.
24:55In this cave, there's no rivers rushing through it, there's no ice flow, there's no rain, there's no animals.
25:02Sorek Cave is a time capsule of geological activity.
25:07There's almost zero erosion, so whatever happens, such as a collapse by an earthquake, is fossilized and preserved and we
25:14can see it.
25:15And we can see thousands and thousands, even tens of thousands of years into the past.
25:21When an earthquake hits, the seismic shockwave causes structural damage in the cave.
25:26In the same way that buildings today are affected by earthquakes and can be damaged or completely collapse,
25:35stalagmite caves show damage by earthquakes.
25:39Elisa ventures deeper into the cave.
25:43She discovers evidence that a large-scale seismic event once occurs here.
25:49Huge sections of the cave's ceiling have collapsed.
25:56When does this earthquake occur?
26:00Cave deposits can provide an excellent recording of geological phenomena.
26:07It affects the cave and therefore leaves signs in the cave and these signs we can see till today.
26:14These mineral deposits, stalactites and stalagmites, grow slowly over thousands of years.
26:22They are time capsules, containing hidden clues to the seismic events of the past.
26:28If you look into one of these stalactites, sliced open, the rings in the center are the older rings.
26:35The outer rings are the younger parts.
26:38And within these rings is a lot of information.
26:41Close examination of the stalactites from the collapsed ceiling allows Elisa to date the earthquake.
26:48Here we can see the part of the collapsed ceiling.
26:51We took small, tiny samples here, used them for dating.
26:55And these darker layers are post-earthquake regrowth.
27:00And this particular earthquake occurred approximately 6,000 BC.
27:07This earthquake could be strong enough to make Jericho's mud brick walls crumble.
27:13But this catastrophic event occurs 4,500 years before the Bible story is set.
27:23But the archaeological discoveries also show that the people of Jericho don't abandon the city.
27:36Each time a major earthquake destroys Jericho's walls, the city's engineers set out to rebuild them.
27:44Bigger and stronger than before.
27:47They reinforce the original single layer, with wider double mud brick walls.
27:54Making it much sturdier.
27:58By 3000 BC, Jericho's builders erect even stronger walls, plastered with a clay mortar, to bind the structure more tightly
28:07together.
28:09A thousand years later, engineers build an artificial slope of earth called a glacii, to support the outer wall and
28:18give it extra strength.
28:23For thousands of years, the people of Jericho endured these earth-shattering natural disasters.
28:31However, one layer of destruction stands out.
28:35I'm standing in front of the city gate from the early Bronze Age.
28:39And here, the archaeologists have found a very thick layer of ashes and burnt organic stuff, including pieces of wood.
28:49It's going outside the city wall, expanding for, I would say, maybe 15 feet.
28:56It could be caused by a fire, or as a result of an invasion.
29:04This ash layer is unlike any other evidence of destruction found in Jericho.
29:09The layer dates to the middle of the second millennium BC, and is discovered across the entire city.
29:17What causes this fierce inferno?
29:20Could the Bible story of the Battle of Jericho be true?
29:35The ancient city of Jericho.
29:38Over its 11,000 year life, the city endures many major earthquakes.
29:44Its famous walls tumble to the ground again and again.
29:48But each time, the people bounce back, rebuilding their walls bigger, stronger, and better.
29:56By the second millennium BC, Jericho is a wealthy city, with an estimated 3,000 inhabitants.
30:03In the Middle Bronze Age, starting from around 2000 BCE until 1650, that is a time when, really, Jericho as
30:15a city peaked.
30:18But according to the Bible, the city is finally destroyed by invading Israelites, who bring the walls crashing down.
30:27An ancient ash layer discovered along the city walls suggests this story could have roots in reality.
30:38Jewish scholars write the story of the siege of Jericho in the Bible's book of Joshua.
30:44They describe a seven-day siege, the start of the Israelite conquest of Canaan, a region that includes present-day
30:52Israel and Palestine.
30:54In the book, the Israelites stormed Jericho and burn it to the ground.
31:03Archaeologists search for evidence of this conquest.
31:08Do further excavations at ancient Jericho align with the biblical tale?
31:15Inside the walls of the ancient city, the ash layer measures more than three feet thick across the entire site.
31:23Evidence the city is destroyed in a fire of huge proportions, exactly as the Bible describes.
31:30Within the ash, Jericho's famous double fortification walls lie collapsed, again like the biblical story.
31:38And amidst the debris, archaeologists find several large jars filled with grain.
31:44A tantalizing hint that the city is not captive for long, aligning with the account of a short seven-day
31:51siege.
31:53Is this evidence that a violent siege is the downfall of Jericho?
32:04The answer can be found not at Jericho, but 50 miles north at Megiddo, known to history as the site
32:13of Armageddon.
32:15The name Armageddon is probably a corruption in Greek of the Hebrew Har Megiddo, the mound of Megiddo.
32:23The place where the final battle between the forces of God and the forces of evil will take place.
32:30Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein heads up excavations here.
32:36Megiddo is special because it has the full sequence of occupation.
32:40You can see in the remains behind, the full sequence of destruction layers.
32:46Over a century of investigation, archaeologists discovered 25 destruction layers at Megiddo.
32:52From the end of the 6th millennium BC to the 5th century BC.
32:59They show the city is besieged and destroyed more than any other in history.
33:06It's a treasure trove of evidence.
33:09And like Jericho, it's said to be destroyed by the Israelites in their conquest of Canaan.
33:15You can see over here, look at this. There's ash over here.
33:19During the excavation, it's very easy to identify the bricks and the fire and the collapse.
33:24Whoever did this came here with the idea of annihilating the city altogether.
33:32In Megiddo, like Jericho, there is evidence of total destruction across the entire city.
33:44So here we, on the floor, many vessels, broken.
33:49People could not, even didn't have the chance to retrieve their belongings.
33:54So everything is on the floor. Very good for archaeologists.
33:57Very tragic for the people of the time.
33:59The question, of course, is mainly how to translate it into history.
34:03Who did it and when?
34:05But dating destruction layers to the time of the Israelite conquest is a challenge.
34:11There is no way to turn from archaeology to history without establishing a good dating system.
34:20So because of our radiocarbon dating program here at Megiddo, we are in a situation to stabilize the chronology.
34:32Radiocarbon dating can reliably date organic material as far back as 50,000 years ago.
34:40At Megiddo, Israel's team collects hundreds of samples of charcoal and pottery and sends them for dating.
34:47Do these samples date to biblical times?
34:52There are four big destructions at Megiddo.
34:55One in around 1100 BC, another one in the 10th century, another in the 9th and another in the 8th.
35:05Experts date the Israelite conquest of Canaan described in the Book of Joshua to the 13th century BC.
35:13None of the destruction layers at Megiddo match this date.
35:17The places which are referred to specifically as having been destroyed by Joshua,
35:23they have no evidence for destruction in the 13th century BC, the supposed time of Joshua.
35:30Meticulous forensic investigation of Megiddo reveals it is not attacked by invading Israelites as the Book of Joshua states.
35:39This leads archaeologists to rule out a Jewish conquest of Jericho too.
35:45When the story of the conquest of Joshua was supposed to take place, which is around 13th or 14th century,
35:54Jericho was abandoned.
35:56There was no inhabitants who lived in Jericho and the city was in ruins.
36:03Jericho's ash layer dates its destruction to centuries before Joshua's biblical conquest.
36:10By then, its ancient walls have lain abandoned for hundreds of years.
36:14The story is a mythical story and does not have any proof.
36:20If the Bible story isn't true, what can explain the legendary conquest of Canaan?
36:27And who is behind the attack that finally brings these famous walls tumbling down?
36:44The Great Walls of Jericho
36:46Tumbling again and again through centuries of earthquakes and conquests.
36:53Archaeological evidence suggests the ancient site lies abandoned in the 13th century BC, the time of the legendary Battle of
37:01Jericho described in the Bible.
37:03So who is responsible for finally raising its walls to the ground?
37:10Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein believes the culprits also destroy the neighboring Canaanite city of Megiddo.
37:16Whoever came here had the idea of completely devastating and annihilating this city.
37:26Israel turns to an incredible ancient source for clues to the identity of the invaders.
37:32A set of clay tablets called the Amarna letters.
37:38Found in the ancient city of Amarna in Egypt,
37:42The astonishing collection of nearly 400 clay tablets reveal the mighty Egyptian pharaohs may have a keen interest in Canaan.
37:52Politically, geographically, historically, they open a window for us into the pharaohs in Canaan.
38:00They tell us a lot about hostilities, but we don't really know how bad the hostilities were.
38:08Egypt is a military superpower, aggressively annexing its neighbors.
38:13Are Jericho, Megiddo, and other Canaanite cities attacked by Egypt?
38:19An empire such as the Egyptian pharaohs in the late modern age, they come organized and they take decisions.
38:27Israel believes it's not possible for the Egyptians to be behind the conquest.
38:31We are not dealing here with a well-organized empire coming here in order to conquer and stay, but skirmishes
38:38here and there.
38:40And because there's no big destruction layer at Megiddo at this time, he suspects a more local invader.
38:47The highlands not so far from us, 30, 40 kilometers to the south.
38:51And in the highlands, we definitely see a big wave of settlement activity in the middle-borns age.
38:58So something happened, some sort of disturbance in the 16th century BC.
39:08Israel believes the people of the highlands south of Megiddo lay waste to the city.
39:12They storm across modern-day Israel and Palestine, heading towards Jericho.
39:18They smash down its walls, burn it to the ground, and leave it in ruins.
39:24The highlanders are expanding to the lowlands.
39:28They are destroying cities in the process, one after the other.
39:31If these highlanders are responsible for the conquest of Canaan,
39:35how does the biblical story of the tumbling walls at Jericho come to be?
39:42After the highlanders burn Jericho to the ground,
39:45all that remains of the city is a huge heap of ash, collapsed walls, and smoking debris.
39:53For hundreds of years, the site lies abandoned,
39:57with the charred remains serving as an increasingly distant reminder of what happened here.
40:03In the early Iron Age, around 1200 BC,
40:07Israelites begin to emerge in Canaan, close to the ancient ruins of Jericho.
40:15Local tales and legends grow up around the ruins,
40:19but they aren't written down until centuries later.
40:27The Book of Joshua, describing the Israelite conquest of Jericho,
40:32is written in the 6th century BC.
40:34From the archaeology point of view, we know today there is no conquest of Canaan.
40:39The biblical battle of Jericho, with trumpeting horns tumbling the walls, may never have occurred.
40:48But this ancient site is far more than just the birthplace of an epic biblical tale.
40:55It is the origin of humanity as we know it.
41:01Jericho sees the birth of civilization.
41:0511,000 years ago, when our nomadic ancestors settled.
41:11Build a city with great walls,
41:15construct the world's first skyscraper,
41:18and face besieging armies.
41:21This is the site of epic defense, destruction, and invasion.
41:26A city like no other.
41:29Inspiring the Bible story that survives to this day.
42:01epidemic for living andetrical features.
42:04That's dramatic.
42:05From this lateThis dude.
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