JERICHO · 9TH–8TH MILLENNIUM BCE

Tell es-Sultan

A stone tower with an internal staircase

Building the tower, wall and ditch required shared labour. Their exact function remains debated.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Truncated conical tower 8.25 m high, upper opening of internal staircase and adjacent wall approximately half the height. Interpretive reconstruction, not a photograph of the original. — **INTERPRETIVE RECONSTRUCTION · AI · hypothetical elevations and roofs**
Reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
AI-generated reconstruction from inspected reference and archaeological sources; does not equal a photograph of the original. See limits and hypothetical parts. Finish of the upper termination and extent of plaster; floor and exterior wall stretch completed. Visual diameters and scale are approximate, not a survey. Function of tower and wall remains debated; no demonstrative military, ritual or solar scene.
OpenAI ImageGen; photographic reference: Reinhard Dietrich · Generated reconstruction; public domain photographic reference
Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗

**INTERPRETIVE RECONSTRUCTION · AI · hypothetical elevations and roofs**
Reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
AI-generated reconstruction from inspected reference and archaeological sources; does not equal a photograph of the original. See limits and hypothetical parts. Finish of the upper termination and extent of plaster; floor and exterior wall stretch completed. Visual diameters and scale are approximate, not a survey. Function of tower and wall remains debated; no demonstrative military, ritual or solar scene.
OpenAI ImageGen; photographic reference: Reinhard Dietrich · Generated reconstruction; public domain photographic reference
Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗

History and context

Tell es-Sultan preserved a permanent settlement, wall, excavated ditch and a stone tower with an internal staircase during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic.

Defence, flood control, assembly or signalling are proposed. Calling it 'the first city' obscures the fact that 'city' depends on the chosen criteria.

Evidence and interpretation

Structures and chronology are documented. Defensive function and 'first city' status are interpretive debates.

Catalogue facts

Date: IX–VIII millennium BCE
Location: Tell es-Sultan · Jericho
Material: Stone and excavated sediment
Elements: Wall, ditch and tower with staircase

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

A hypothesis written in shadows

Liran and Barkai studied the relationship between the staircase, the tower and the nearby mountain through a solar landscape reconstruction. They proposed that the monument aligned with the summer solstice sunset and linked that effect to communal life. It is a published explanation, not an inscription left by the builders. Geometry allows an orientation to be verified; attributing a political or cosmological purpose to it requires a further interpretive step. The tower preserves its stones better than the reasons of those who placed them.

Research · Liran and Barkai · Antiquity, Casting a shadow on Neolithic JerichoAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Reference images and provenance

Documentary reference: A tower with a staircase before 'city' had a clear definition. — **REFERENCE PHOTOGRAPH · Reinhard Dietrich · Public domain**
Photograph of the preserved archaeological remains, used as reference for an interpretive reconstruction.
Documentary original · Exact correspondence
Reinhard Dietrich
Image provenance Public domain

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

Tell es-Sultan · JerichoArchaeological settlement marker.

Sources and references

Open the institutional record and expand the object

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