LAUGIiLl":O~TIlEC01\'VEMGE.."O:OFTEXTSANI)AM11FACfS 123specificplace. PUIthis way,whatis nowknownarchaeologicallyposes
someveryrealproblemsforthoSt:whowouldslilllakeIhebiblicalSlories
atfacevalue.TheseproblemsdemonstJ:nehowarchaeologycan,allimes,
serveasa conlrolonwhatcanbeassertedor,moreimponantlyinIhis
case,whatcannotbeassertedhistoricallyaboula particularbiblicalevent.
IIisimpossibleinsuchashanessay 10 discussadequatelyallthetextual/
archaeologicdldatarelevanttoeverysitementionedinIheHebrewBible.
Thus,Iwill reservemycommentsfor twoofthemoredramaticstories
encountered:jerichoand'Ai.
JERICHOANI)'AIASCASESTUDIE.<;ThecityofjerichoismentionedoverfiftytimesintheIlcbrewBible.
Inalmost 50 percentofthese(twenty-sixtimes),thereferencetoIhesiteis
for geographical localion/orienlation.Thus, theexpression "across the
jordanfromjericho"oftenoccurs(e,g.,Num22:1;26:3,63;31:12;33:48).
SometimestheexpressionistotheMplainsofjericho,Masinjer39:5and
52:8,Tentimes"jericho~appearsinreferencetoitsking:josh2:2,3;6:2;
8:2;10:1,28,30;12:9.Tocomplicatemattersjust 3 liule,Ihereseemtobe
(wodifferentversionsofthe"hattleW forjerichobythe"Israelites."The
morefamousone.withtherumblingwalls,isfoundinjosh6,butthereare
nota fewcuriositIestoIhisStory.Aftermentioningthedtyuymillieinlhe
openingtwoversesofthechapter,jerichoisnevermentionedagainuntil
verse25. Thereisnomentionofanykingand,perhapsevenmorepuz-
zling,nomentionofanyresistance 011 thepartofthecity'sinhabitants.^14
Thestoryinjosh24:II,however,is a muchmorecrypticaccountthat
linksthedefe:nofjerichowiththatofotherpeoples,includingrheAmor-
itesandCanaanites.Inaddition,wearespecificallytoldinthisSllmmary
passagethatthe~citizensofjerichofoughtagainst"Israel(24:lIb).Con-
spicuouslyabsent,howcver,isanymentionofm:uchingaround,trumpet
blOWing, waltsfalling flat, harlotrescuing,orthcimposingofthe"ban"
(6:17). Stuck in the larger Shechem renewal speech by the biblical
editor(s),thisversionofthecapture/destructionofjerichoseemstocome
froma verydifferentsourcethanIhatpreservedinjosh6,
Whentheardlaeologicaldatarorjerichoareexamined,bothstories-
whatever their ultimate origin-seem to be lilemry creationsoftheir
aUlhor(s).Allarchaeologicaldiscussionofthissitemustnowdealwiththe
11 cr,~hduelD.Coogan,•Arch:....'OIclR)'andBiblicalSwd)es1llclkx>kojJoshua.'in
TheflebrertBibletlllJUslmerpreters(00 W. tlPropp.U.Ualpem,andD N Freednun;
BibliC".I1andJudaic$l:udiesfromlheUni\Cl"'iltyofcalifornia.SanDk~).I;Winonalake.Ind.:
Eisenbf".Iuns,1990),19-.32