The city of Jericho is located near the Jordan River in the Palestine. It was occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967, and has been held under Israeli occupation since 1967 with administrative control handed over to the Palestinian Authority in 1994. It is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world.
Archaeologists have unearthed remains from more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho - dating back 11,000 years (9000 BCE). The stone tower pictured above dates back to about 8,000 BC.
In the 1800's archaeologists tried to find the Biblical walls. They returned in 1907, digging a wide slice in a hill and instead found a Bronze city. In 1930 they found a cup - they thought they found the Biblical walls (Joshua 6), but what was found was from a much earlier period. In 1952, Kathleen Kenyon became the leading authority and Jericho was recognized as the oldest continuously occupied settlement in history because of her discoveries.
Jericho is described in the Bible as the "City of Palm Trees". We saw hundreds (if not thousands) of date palm trees along the route to and from Jericho.
Jesus came through Jericho using the Roman Road to Jerusalem.