Jericho: an early settled community

Jericho lay in the Jordan Valley beside a dependable spring. During the early Neolithic, residents repeatedly built houses and combined hunting, gathering and the use of cereals with longer stays in one place. Earth and mud-brick walls enclosed rooms whose floors were maintained. New houses rose over earlier buildings, concentrating food, tools and family activities around a fixed home.

The settlement accumulated through many generations. Residents stored seasonally available food, repaired roofs and dealt with waste from concentrated habitation. Staying in one place changed the yearly rhythm of work and made coordination with neighbors part of ordinary life.

References: [1]

An early wall and a stone tower with an internal staircase required work beyond a single household. People collected and carried stones, built the structures and maintained them. These constructions organized space outside the houses and gave collective activity a durable physical form. Their scale reveals the capacity of an early community to undertake shared projects while continuing the work of obtaining food.

References: [1]

Burials beneath floors and treated skulls connected the dead with inhabited spaces. Some skulls received plaster faces and shell eyes. Preparing these objects demanded deliberate care and preserved recognizable human features. Houses thus carried memories as well as daily activities. Together, the spring, food storage, buildings and burial practices show several ways in which Jericho residents maintained a community over successive generations.

References: [1]