JERICHO     One of the problems we have in archaeology is the art of interpretation.  Archaeologists all have the same evidence yet they come to many different conclusions.  This city, titled above, is no exception as it has been dug over and over by many different archaeologists over the past 150 years or so.   Starting in 1868, and on to the present, the conclusion about this city and the biblical accounts has changed every time someone new digs at the site. First they ‘prove’ that the Israelites didn’t conquer the town, then they do ‘prove’ that it did happen then they reverse that decision and go back and say they didn’t and you get the picture.   But if one looks at the evidence, one can see that there is enough discovered to prove that the Israelites did conquer the city as described in the Bible.  According to a lecture given by Dr. Bryant Wood entitled, ‘The Walls of Jericho Fall on Bible’s Critics’, we are given a list of the evidence that shows the Bible is correct. Here is what he discloses:   n  walls had tumbled outwards and formed a ramp for the Israelites  to climb up over n  house on the north of the old city found untouched by the falling wall n  piece of charcoal dated to 1400 b.c. n  scarabs found with Egyptian Pharaoh’s names n  Cemeteries in use in the 15th century b.c. n  Possible imported pottery found in the Louvre Museum   The evidence is there one just has to accept it as fact and dismiss the alternatives.  One such alternative comes from K. Kenyon who dug at Jericho in the 1950’s and her conclusions , which went against the Biblical record, was based upon what she DID NOT find—a certain kind of imported pottery she thought should have been present.   But as you see in the list, a bag of pottery was found which possibly contains that item Kenyon wanted to see.  The other weakness of Kenyon’s conclusion was that she ‘dug in what was determined as the poor section of town’ so it would be unrealistic of her to expect to find such expensive pottery.   These are the kinds of opposition that Bible believers face.  Opinions and conclusions made on unrealistic expectations and partial data and unfortunately for Jericho and believers, Kenyon’s conclusions were accepted basically without question and publication.  According to Dr. Wood, ‘it would take a massive amount of evidence to over turn the impact of Kenyon’s work.’   What conclusion can we draw?  That the Biblical record is true, the evidence is there and suffers at the hand of those who do not believe, and that scholars make mistakes (either on purpose or accidentally) or errors in judgment.  We have to be careful when listening to those who proclaim themselves as experts for they are as fallible as any common man and draw conclusions influenced by bias and non-belief. For further study here are some websites that you can peruse and get more information to draw your own conclusions:   http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/middle_east/jericho.html http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/jericho.html http://www.jewishmag.com/31mag/jericho/jericho.htm http://www.ancientdays.net/mooncity.htm