Have archaeologists found evidence of the destruction of Jericho in the days of Joshua?

Professor John Garstang, leader of an English expedition at Tell es-Sultan between 1929 and 1936, found that what he considered to be one of the cities built on the site had been subjected to intense fires and its walls had fallen. This city he identified with the Jericho of Joshua’s time and assigned its destruction to about 1400 B.C.E. Although some scholars today still endorse Garstang’s conclusions, others interpret the evidence differently. Writes archaeologist G. Ernest Wright: “The two walls which surrounded the summit of the old city, which Garstang . . . believed were destroyed by earthquake and fire in Joshua’s time, were discovered to date from the 3rd millennium and to represent only two of some fourteen different walls or wall-components built successively during that age.” (Biblical Archaeology, 1962, pp. 79, 80) Many feel that little, if anything, remains of the Jericho that existed in Joshua’s time, earlier excavations at the site having removed what might have survived from the time of its destruction. As Professor Jack Finegan notes: “There is now, therefore, virtually no evidence at the site by which to try to determine at what date Joshua might have taken Jericho.”​—Light From the Ancient Past, 1959, p. 159.

For this reason numerous scholars date the fall of Jericho on circumstantial evidence, and suggested dates span a period of about 200 years. In view of such uncertainty, Professor Merrill F. Unger fittingly observes: “Scholars also must be extremely wary of attaching undue authority to archeologists’ estimates of dates and interpretation of data. That the fixing of dates and the conclusions drawn from archeological findings often depend on subjective factors is amply demonstrated by the wide divergences between competent authorities on these matters.”​—Archaeology and the Old Testament, 1964, p. 164.

Therefore, the fact that the interpretations of archaeologists do not agree with Biblical chronology in pointing to 1473 B.C.E. as the date for Jericho’s destruction is no reason for concern. The difference in the viewpoint of Garstang and other archaeologists about Jericho illustrates the need for caution in accepting archaeological testimony regardless of whether it seems to confirm or to contradict the Bible record and its chronology.

Later, near Jericho, an angelic prince appeared to Joshua and outlined the procedure for taking the city, which was then tightly shut up on account of the Israelites. Obediently, once a day for six days the Israelite military force went forth, followed by seven priests continually blowing the horns, behind whom were the priests carrying the Ark, and finally the rear guard​—all marching around Jericho. But on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times. At the blowing of the horns on the final march around Jericho, the people shouted a great war cry, and the city’s walls began to fall flat.​—Jos 5:13–6:20.