River with the ruins of ancient Jericho on the bank. Jericho: the most ancient city on earth

Today there are, as it were, three Jerichos: Ancient, at a distance of 2 km from it - New Testament, and, finally, the village of Jericho in the southeast of the old city. However, all these three Jerichos are either ruins discovered by archaeologists, or a poor settlement of people unaware of the once tragic history of this place.

During the excavations of Jericho (1930-1936), Garstang made such an astonishing discovery that he considered it necessary to attest to it with a special document signed by himself and two other members of the expedition.

He writes about this discovery as follows: “As for the main fact, there is therefore no doubt left in it: the walls of the city fell outward, and completely, so that the attackers could climb over their rubble and enter the city.”

Why is this fact so unusual? The fact is that the walls of cities do not fall outward, they fall inward. And yet, in the book of Joshua we read: “...and the wall of the city fell down to its foundations, and the people went into the city, every one from his side, and took the city” (Joshua 6:19). These walls fell outwards

Jericho - in Hebrew the city is called Yericho, in Arabic Erich.

Jericho, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, is mentioned numerous times in the Bible.

Jericho is the oldest excavated city in the world, with about 10 thousand years of almost continuous occupation.

In addition, it is the lowest city in the world, which is located more than 350 m below sea level in an oasis that is considered the largest in the entire Middle East and is located a few kilometers north of the northern tip Dead Sea.

Jericho is a city in the Palestinian Authority, in the territory West Bank Jordan River. It is the capital of the province of Jericho.

Population 20,416 Palestinians (2006).

In the Late Bronze Age, Jericho was a prosperous city surrounded by a wall of mud brick. According to one version, the city was destroyed by the ancient Jews who invaded Canaan around 1550 BC. e.

Josephus Flavius, Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny and others mention him.

Also called the "city of palm trees".

Under Constantine the Great, there was a Christian church here, with a bishop at its head.

In 1948, during the Arab-Israeli War of 1947–49. Jericho was occupied by Transjordan, and in 1967, after the Six-Day War, it was occupied by Israeli troops.

View of modern Jericho

The ruins of ancient Jericho lie west of the center modern city. The first traces of human life here date back to the 8th millennium BC. uh

The New Testament connects the city of Jericho with the story of one of the remarkable acts of Jesus Christ - the healing of the “blind man of Jericho”: the blind man cried out to Christ passing by for healing, and he performed a miracle - the blind man received his sight.

There is only one existing city on the planet, that rivals the longevity of Jericho is Damascus.

At the beginning of the last century, 3 expeditions dug Tel Jericho in the hope of finding the biblical city. Only on the third attempt did archaeologists manage to get to the bottom of the city walls and tower from the times of ancient Canaan.

It is assumed that the surroundings of Jericho still hide under the thickness of the earth historical values ​​comparable to the Valley of the Kings in Egypt.

Perhaps the main attraction of Jericho is the mound of the ancient city, Tel Yericho. The Arabs call it Tel es-Sultan, and the source located next to it is En-Sultan, the same one in which the prophet Elisha - Elisha - desalinated the water. It was in this place that the walls stood, which fell from the sound of the Israelites' trumpets. Excavations carried out here many times, dating back to the time of English explorers of the last century, have discovered a lot of interesting things.

The town area of ​​that period is approximately 40 acres and is a large settlement for its time.

An ancient synagogue from around the 8th century was also found in Jericho. n. e. with a mosaic floor that was discovered by chance during the renovation of an old house.

The first excavations of ancient Jericho began in 1907-1908

Biblical Archeology of Jericho

The first excavations of ancient Jericho began in 1907-1908 by K. Watzinger, but the most significant results were obtained during the excavations of J. Garstang, carried out in 1930-1936. During these excavations, irrefutable evidence was found to confirm the messages of the book of Joshua. Arose from oblivion before archaeologists ancient city, the ruins of which very vividly told about their history. Jericho was a fairly typical Canaanite fortress, albeit of a large size. The city's fortifications consisted of two rows of walls, the outer one 2 meters thick and the inner one 4 meters thick.

The height of the walls was about 10 meters, and between them there was a passage 5 meters wide; this passage was connected by residential buildings, one of which was Rahab’s house. What struck archaeologists was that the walls of the city collapsed outward, which was truly amazing, contrary to all common sense, but that’s exactly how it was. The city wall collapsed to the ground, opening the way into the city for the attackers. During further excavations, traces of the terrible fires that destroyed the city were discovered.

Huge mountains of ash and coal were revealed to the eyes of archaeologists. Since ancient times, it was customary to collect everything valuable and edible from a conquered city, especially if it was then subjected to destruction. But instead, archaeologists discovered entire barns and storerooms filled with wheat, dates, lentils and many other supplies, things and objects, the dating of which showed that the city was destroyed around 1400 BC. Recent research by Dr. B. Wood has fully confirmed this date. It was also proven that the assault on the city took place in the spring, as evidenced by jugs filled with grain.

Conclusions:

1. Indeed, Jericho fell around 1400 BC, which completely coincides with biblical chronology.

2. The walls of the city collapsed outwards.

3. The city was not plundered, for according to Joshua 6:20 everything in it was condemned.

4. The city was destroyed by fire (Joshua 6:23).

5. Houses in the wall were discovered, like the house of Rahab (Joshua 2:15).

6. The city was taken in the spring (Joshua 2:6, 3:15, 5:10).

What is this city famous for? The phrase “trumpets of Jericho” has entered the Russian language. It means a loud cry foreshadowing disaster. We also know that Jericho is the oldest city in Palestine, and probably on the entire planet. Archaeologists discovered that people lived in this place continuously for ten thousand years! Jericho is also interesting in terms of geographical location: It is located 250 m below sea level. This is the deepest city on Earth. And, of course, as soon as we open the Bible, we soon come across a mention of Jericho.

It is spoken about in the books: Deuteronomy, Judges, 2 Chronicles, Joshua. But in the Gospel the biblical city in Palestine is also not ignored. Approaching him, our Lord healed a man who had been blind since birth. Entering the city walls on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus Christ met Zacchaeus, who was small in stature, and therefore climbed a fig tree to see the Messiah from behind the surrounding people. By the way, this tree is still alive, and it is shown to those who wish to see it.

“These are all legends,” says a person who does not believe the Bible. What do the facts, that is, material evidence, say about the “City of Palms” (according to one version, this is where the name of the city of Yoriho comes from)? Indeed, at the end of the 19th century, when the first British archaeological expedition arrived in the biblical city, it was a quiet provincial village. English scientists in 1868 dug up quite a bit. After 40 years, another expedition arrived in the village, this time consisting of Germans. which was led by archaeologist E. Sellin, immediately began to dig deep. As a result, in 1908, scientists discovered the ancient city wall.

To date, through the efforts of archaeologists, the biblical city in Palestine has revealed 23 layers of bygone civilizations. The first settlement west of the market square of modern Jericho dates back to the 8th millennium BC. e. But this is not what is important: the settlement was not a camp of wild nomads, but a city. This is evidenced by a powerful eight-meter tower dating back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic era. The settlement (7300 BC) amazed scientists with the scale of the city fortifications. It is almost impossible to believe that such powerful walls could be erected by people who did not know iron.

There are many artifacts of later eras in Jericho: the necropolis of the Chalcolithic period, the ruins of the winter residence of King Herod, the palace of the Arab culture of the 7th century. But what allows us to say that Jericho is precisely the biblical city in Palestine? Firstly, there is a spring at the Tel al-Sultan hill, called the spring of Elisha. In the Fourth Book of Kings (2:19-22) we read that the city was good for everyone, but the water in it was not good. threw salt there, which made the source drinkable. And not far from the city rises a mountain on which Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days and was tempted by the Devil.

But what does “the trumpets of Jericho” mean? The book of Joshua tells that the ancient Jews decided to seize this very favorable place in the oasis, because Yahweh promised to support them. The army surrounded the biblical city in Palestine and began to loudly trumpet and shout battle cries. As a result, powerful fortifications collapsed, and the Israelis killed all the inhabitants with the exception of one house of the collaborator and harlot Rahab. Does this mystical story have any material confirmation? Indeed, the fortress wall of the huge city (17 hectares, which is unheard of in antiquity) collapsed in several places at once. But the reason for this was not the sound of a trumpet, but an earthquake.

Jericho is a city in the territory of modern Palestine, which is on at the moment the oldest known continuously inhabited city in the world. Its history can be traced not only through objects discovered during archaeological excavations, but also through the pages of the Old Testament. Jericho is referred to as the "city of palm trees": there were a huge number of them growing here, and legends tell of Jericho as a place "where houses were not visible under the green canopy of palm trees."
True, it was precisely the fact that Jericho was mentioned in the Old Testament text that predetermined the history of its study. For a long time, no one was interested in the real geography of the places described in the oldest part of the Christian Bible - the fact of their existence was taken for granted, but they were not considered sacred. Biblical sites attracted the attention of archaeologists only in the middle of the 19th century.
Based on the results of archaeological excavations in the 1930s and 1950s. experts have found that Jericho was founded in the ninth millennium BC. e. Initially, it was a trading post at the intersection of ancient caravan routes.
The location of Jericho was extremely advantageous from all points of view. It was located away from Mediterranean Sea where the pirates ruled,
but at the same time on the navigable Jordan River and next to the Dead Sea, through which trade routes also passed.
The heyday of Jericho occurred in the second millennium BC. BC: at this time the city was surrounded by a powerful double fortress wall, crafts flourished in it, the traditions of which, in particular, were introduced by settlers - bearers of the culture of making molded ceramic products.
By the end of the second millennium, Jericho, whose main population was Canaanites, was destroyed by Jewish tribes. This episode in the history of the city is described in the Bible in the story of the capture of Jericho by the Jewish people, freed from Egyptian captivity, led by Joshua. The walls of the city would have withstood any siege, but the Jews had a special weapon: they blew the trumpets with all their might for seven days, and, as the Bible says, “...by faith the walls of Jericho fell...”.
In the 9th century. BC e. Jericho was rebuilt, presumably by the Hyksos culture. True, the city in 587 BC. e. had to suffer defeat from the Babylonians. The strengthened and expanded city again suffered greatly during the First Jewish War (66-70 AD).
Already in the 1st century. n. e. under the Roman Empire, Jericho was rebuilt, southwest of the Old City. During construction, the Romans used a regular Hellenistic-Roman plan, with straight streets and squares, and old town with its ruins turned into a necropolis. Subsequently, the Byzantines moved Jericho again, this time to the place where it is currently located.
In 1099, Jericho was captured by the crusaders. In 1187, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria, Salah ad-Din (or Saladin), captured the city, after which a period of desolation of Jericho began, which lasted until the 19th century, when a new settlement appeared on the site of the ruins. Subsequently, the city's population was often replenished by refugees who left their homes due to wars.
Since 1993, Jericho has been allocated to the Palestinian Authority under the terms of the Norwegian agreements to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In 1993, the Palestinian National Authority was created, and the city of Jericho became part of it, but not everyone can get into it.
Currently, experts are still studying the history of ancient Jericho, and they still have a lot of work to do. According to archaeologists, within the city, in addition to the remains of a settlement with the foundations of round adobe and rectangular residential buildings with a central courtyard, a layer of 17 cultural layers with a total thickness of about 15 meters has been preserved. Unfortunately, later cultural layers dating back to 2000-500. BC e., were lost as a result of erosion processes.
Experts nevertheless managed to learn a lot about the culture of the ancient inhabitants of Jericho. In particular, scientists were lucky enough to discover a layer dating back to the heyday of Jericho, as well as to the time of the attack on the city by Joshua.
Among the most unusual finds of archaeologists are ancient burials. It turned out that the Natufians - representatives of the Mesolithic culture (12500-9500 BC), who once inhabited Jericho - buried their deceased relatives without heads, replacing them with clay masks with shells inserted into the eye sockets; the skulls were separated and buried separately, also decorated clay and shells. It is assumed that this ritual was associated with the cult of the Moon, which, according to one version, is indicated by the name of the city itself: the word “yareah” means “moon”.
Unfortunately, the nature in the vicinity of the city has become very scarce: instead of palm groves and Jericho roses, balsam trees, now mainly thorny bushes and artificially planted olive trees grow here.
Jericho plays a special role in the Christian world. Several monuments from biblical times have been preserved here. In the ancient city, the waters of the spring of the prophet Elisha, which the saint made suitable for drinking, still flow. The Forty Day Mountain, or the Mount of Temptation, towering over Jericho, recalls the forty days of temptation by the devil of the fasting Jesus Christ, which the Holy Scriptures narrate. Nowadays, especially for the convenience of pilgrims, a cable car line has been installed to the top of the mountain.
The tree of Zacchaeus grows in the center of Jericho. According to the New Testament, the publican Zacchaeus climbed onto it to see Jesus Christ. A plot of land over which the branches of an ancient sycamore tree spread, at the end of the 19th century. was donated to the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, and is now officially owned by the Russian government.
The ruins of ancient Jericho lie west of the center of modern Jericho, a city whose official and final status has not yet been determined by internationally accepted laws. Its population is about three thousand people, the majority live on international humanitarian aid programs. An additional source of income is serving tourists and Christian pilgrims who visit biblical sites, despite the risk involved due to the tensions in the region.

General information

Location: Palestine (West Bank), at the northern tip of the Dead Sea.

Official status: administrative center of the province of Jericho, Palestinian National Authority (status not fully determined).

Language: Arabic.

Ethnic composition: Palestinian Arabs.

Religion: Islam.

Currency: Israeli shekel, US dollar, euro, Jordanian dinar, Egyptian pound.

Major river: Jordan.

Large lake: .

Numbers

Jericho ruins area: 0.25 km 2 .
Population in the ruins area: OK. 3000 people

The area of ​​modern Jericho: 58.7 km 2 .

Population: 20,416 people. (2006).
Population density: 347.8 people/km 2 .

Average altitude relative to sea level: -258 m.

Distance: 7 km west of the Jordan River, 12 km northwest of the Dead Sea, 30 km northeast of Jerusalem.

Climate and weather

Subtropical.

Average January temperature: +15°C.

Average temperature in July: +31°С.
Average annual precipitation: 160 mm.

Relative humidity: 60%.

Economy

Agriculture: crop production, livestock production.
Services: tourism (servicing pilgrims), transport, trade.

Attractions

■ Historical: fortress tower (8400-7300 BC), burials of the Natufian culture period, city walls of the Bronze Age, ruins of the winter palaces of the Hasmonean dynasty and Herod the Great with baths and pools, ruins of a Byzantine city and the palace of the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik (VIII-IX centuries).

■ Religious: the synagogue of Israel (1st century BC), the synagogue of the Byzantine period, the source of the prophet Elisha, the Forty Day Mountain (also known as the Mount of Temptation and Mount Carantal), the Orthodox monastery of Temptation (IV century).

Curious facts

■ Jericho was the first of the Canaanite cities to be conquered by the Israelites, as it was a strategically important point at the entrance to Palestine.

■ Rose of Jericho is an annual herbaceous plant of the cabbage family, better known as tumbleweed: at the very beginning of the dry season, the plant dries up, the upper part is separated from the soil and moved by the wind, which promotes the spread of seeds. The seeds themselves remain viable for many years and are able to germinate in the ground almost before our eyes, within a few hours.

■ In total, ancient Jericho is mentioned in the Bible more than seventy times.

■ Currently, the only inhabitant of the Temptation Monastery, whose cells are carved directly into the rock, remains a Greek monk.

■ In 2011, a Russian museum and park complex was opened in Jericho as a sign of the development of “spiritual and cultural ties between Russia and the PNA.”

The most ancient city on the planet is Jericho.

Jericho (Hebrew: יְרִיחוֹ‎, Jericho; Greek: Ίεριχώ; Arabic: أريحا‎‎‎‎, Ariha) is a city in the Palestinian Authority, on the territory of the West Bank. It is the capital of the province of Jericho, population 20,416 Palestinians (2006). Located in the northern Judean Desert, approximately 7 km west of the Jordan River, 12 km northwest of the Dead Sea and 30 km northeast of Jerusalem. One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is mentioned many times in the Bible, where it is also called “the city of palm trees” (Hebrew Ir ha-Tmarim) (Deut. 34:3, Judges 3:13, 2 Chronicles 28:15). The name of the city, according to one version, comes from the word “moon” - “yareah” in Hebrew, according to another - from the word “smell”, “fragrance” - “reah”. The second hypothesis may be related to the fact that in ancient times spices and incense were grown in the Jericho oasis - the only place in Israel where, due to the unique climate and availability of water, these crops can grow. The oldest archaeological evidence is the remains of a tower from Neolithic times, about 8 thousand years BC. e. The oldest written mention is the book of Joshua.

The first traces of human life here date back to the 8th millennium BC. e. A powerful tower (8 meters) from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (8400-7300 BC), burials from the Chalcolithic period, city walls from the Bronze Age, perhaps the same ones that, according to legend, fell from the loud trumpets of Israeli soldiers were discovered here (the famous “Trumpets of Jericho”).

Ruins of ancient Jericho

Source of Ain es-Sultan ("Source of the Sultan")

According to legend: immediately after the Jews wandered forty years in the desert and the death of Moses, the Jewish army crossed the Jordan approximately in the area of ​​​​the modern Allenby Bridge and camped at Gilgal just on the eve of Passover. Jericho becomes the first city captured by the Israelites using a cunning military trick: the Jewish army circles the city 7 times, so that it appears seven times larger to the besieged, then blows 7 jubilee trumpets 7 times - “and the walls of the city fell” (Joshua 6). This is where the famous saying about the “trumpets of Jericho” came from. Jericho was completely destroyed, its inhabitants were destroyed to a single person, with the exception of the harlot Rahab, who at one time hid Jewish spies, for which she was spared.

It must be said that archaeologists have not found any evidence of that era, since the layer that should correspond in time to the Jewish capture of the Promised Land, like all subsequent layers, was washed away by the winter floods of the Kelt Wadi, which opens here. Of course, this is not proof that the events described in the book of Joshua did not actually occur.

Perhaps the main attraction of Jericho is the mound of the ancient city, Tel Yericho. The Arabs call it Tel es-Sultan, and the source located next to it is En-Sultan, the same one in which the prophet Elisha - Elisha - desalinated the water. It was in this place that the walls stood, which fell from the sound of the Israelites' trumpets. Excavations carried out here many times, dating back to the time of English explorers of the last century, have discovered a lot of interesting things. First Warren and then Kathleen Canyon excavated the entire body, revealing the ruins of the city right down to the Neolithic tower - 8th millennium BC. e., when there were no cities anywhere in the world. City walls made of red bricks have also been found, which date back to approximately the 3rd millennium BC. e. - the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, when again there were practically no cities in the world. The town area of ​​that period is approximately 40 acres and is a large settlement for its time. The city was surrounded by a rampart, also preserved under a layer of earth, which surrounds an area twice the size of the city, which means that there may have been houses outside the fortress walls. The embankment had not only a military purpose, but also protected the city from floods.

In 1953, archaeologists led by Kathleen Canyon made an outstanding discovery that completely changed our understanding of the early history of mankind. Researchers made their way through 40 (!) cultural layers and discovered buildings of the Neolithic period with huge buildings dating back to the time when, it would seem, only nomadic tribes should have lived on Earth, earning their food by hunting and collecting plants and fruits. The results of excavations showed that approximately 10 thousand years ago a qualitative leap was made in the eastern Mediterranean associated with the transition to the artificial cultivation of cereals. This led to drastic changes in culture and lifestyle.

The discovery of early agricultural Jericho was an archeological sensation in the 1950s. Systematic excavations here revealed a whole series of successive layers, united into two complexes: Pre-ceramic Neolithic A (8th millennium BC) and Pre-ceramic Neolithic B (7th millennium BC).

The pre-ceramic Neolithic settlement A occupied an area of ​​about 4 hectares and was surrounded by a powerful defensive wall made of stone. Adjoining it was a massive round stone tower. Initially, researchers assumed that this was a tower of a fortress wall. But obviously, it was a special-purpose structure that combined many functions, including the function of a guard post to monitor the surrounding area.

Protected by a stone wall, there were round, tent-like houses on stone foundations with walls made of mud brick, one surface of which was convex (this type of brick is called "pork's back"). To more accurately determine the age of these structures, the latest scientific methods were used, such as the radiocarbon (radiocarbon) method.

Nuclear physicists, when studying isotopes, found that it is possible to determine the age of objects by the ratio of radioactive and stable carbon isotopes. Through sounding, it was found that the oldest walls of this city date back to the 8th millennium, that is, their age is approximately 10 thousand years. The sanctuary discovered as a result of excavations was even more ancient - 9551 BC.

There is no doubt that Jericho A, with its settled population and developed construction industry, was one of the first early agricultural settlements on Earth. Based on the many years of research carried out here, historians received a completely new picture of the development and technical capabilities that humanity had 10 thousand years ago.

The transformation of Jericho from a small primitive settlement with miserable huts and huts into a real city with an area of ​​at least 3 hectares and a population of more than 2000 people is associated with the transition of the local population from simple gathering of edible cereals to agriculture - growing wheat and barley. At the same time, researchers have established that this revolutionary step was taken not as a result of some kind of introduction from the outside, but was the result of the development of the tribes living here: archaeological excavations of Jericho showed that in the period between the culture of the original settlement and the culture of the new city, which was built at the turn 9th and 8th millennia BC, life here did not stop.

At first, the town was not fortified, but with the advent of strong neighbors, fortress walls became necessary to protect against attacks. The appearance of fortifications speaks not only of the confrontation between different tribes, but also of the accumulation by the inhabitants of Jericho of certain material values ​​that attracted the greedy gaze of their neighbors. What were these values? Archaeologists have answered this question as well. Probably the main source of income for the townspeople was barter trade: the well-located city controlled the main resources of the Dead Sea - salt, bitumen and sulfur. Obsidian, jade and diorite from Anatolia, turquoise from the Sinai Peninsula, cowrie shells from the Red Sea were found in Jericho - all these goods were highly valued during the Neolithic period.

The fact that Jericho was a powerful urban center is evidenced by its defensive fortifications. Without the use of picks and hoes, a ditch 8.5 m wide and 2.1 m deep was cut into the rock. Behind the ditch rose a stone wall 1.64 m thick, preserved at a height of 3.94 m. Its original height probably reached 5 m , and above there was a masonry of mud bricks.

During the excavations, a large round stone tower with a diameter of 7 m was discovered, preserved to a height of 8.15 m, with an internal staircase carefully built from solid stone slabs one meter wide. The tower contained grain storage and clay-lined cisterns to collect rainwater.

The stone tower of Jericho was probably built at the beginning of the 8th millennium BC. and lasted for a very long time. When it ceased to be used for its intended purpose, crypts for burials began to be built in its internal passage, and the former storage facilities were used as dwellings. These rooms were often rebuilt. One of them, destroyed by fire, dates back to 6935 BC.

An analysis of the skulls and bone remains found in Jericho showed that 10 thousand years ago, short people - just over 150 cm - with elongated skulls (dolichocephalians), who belonged to the so-called Euro-African race, lived here. They built oval-shaped dwellings from lumps of clay, the floors of which were recessed below ground level. The house was entered through a doorway with wooden jambs. There were several steps leading down. Most houses consisted of a single round or oval room with a diameter of 4-5 m, covered with a vault of intertwined rods. The ceiling, walls and floor were covered with clay. The floors in the houses were carefully leveled, sometimes painted and polished.

The inhabitants of ancient Jericho used stone and bone tools, did not know ceramics and ate wheat and barley, the grains of which were ground on stone grain grinders with stone pestles. From rough food, which consisted of cereals and legumes ground in stone mortars, these people's teeth completely wore out.

Not knowing how to sculpt pottery, the ancient inhabitants of Jericho at the same time sculpted animal figures and other images from clay. In residential buildings and tombs of Jericho, many clay figurines of animals were found, as well as stucco images of the phallus. The cult of masculinity was widespread in ancient Palestine, and its images are found in other places.

In one of the layers of Jericho, archaeologists discovered a kind of main hall with six wooden posts. It was probably a sanctuary - a primitive predecessor of the future temple. Inside this room and in its immediate vicinity, archaeologists did not find any household items, but they found numerous clay figurines of animals - horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs and models of male genital organs.

Thus, taking into account the above evidence (and taking into account other archaeological sites discovered on the territory of modern Turkey) against the still current (historical) paradigm orthodox historians about that , that the development (evolution) of Human civilization in the period 9500 BC. e. - 3000 BC e. occurred purely sequentially (i.e. progressively, through the quantitative accumulation of knowledge and skills of the first agricultural (livestock) crops and the automatic spontaneous generation of urban planning and technological structures) - from the Neolithic to the first ancient civilizations Sumer and Egypt, as well as unequivocally confirmed by geologists and geophysicists the facts of recording in the history of the Earth the Great Flood (the maximum rise of the ocean in Europe around 9600 BC) and the end of the Ice Age (the last glaciation, which began about 110 thousand years ago and ended around 9700-9600 BC with the World War), it seems logical and appropriate to put forward the following hypothesis (hypotheses):

1. There is a fairly high probability that during the period of its existence on Earth (from 4.4 million years to 195,000 years) Humanity has had repeated (i.e., not only in 4000-3500 BC) experience of the spontaneous generation of highly developed (at the level of ancient) civilizations. Echoes of the existence of such pre-civilizations are numerous prehistoric (dating back to earlier than the 9th millennium) artifacts and megalithic buildings, which have already been discovered in sufficient quantities by modern archeology. At the same time, it is important to note that the remains of cities and infrastructure of these ancestral civilizations are still poorly studied by modern archeology, since they were either washed away by the waters of the Great Flood (as happened with many “cultural Jerichos” that we mentioned above) or are still buried V hard to reach places sea ​​(ocean) bottom (similar archaeological finds also more than enough). Meanwhile, it is also necessary to note that, in our opinion, it is very unlikely that the above-mentioned proto-civilizations would have been able to achieve during their existence a technocratic level comparable to the modern (at the beginning of the 21st century, or even at the end of the 19th century) technological structure .

2. The Neolithic revolution described in classical historical sources (period 9500 BC BC - 5500 BC e.) had no direct relation to the emergence of the civilizations of Sumer and Egypt and, accordingly, to the emergence of our own civilization. The Neolithic revolution, as a result of which the civilizations of Sumer and Egypt arose (more precisely, were brought from outside by individual alien civilizers) occurred much earlier (according to our assumption, no later 15000 - 12000 BC ) and, most likely, as a result of this revolution, first (even before the Flood) Atlantis and a number of European proto-civilizations (Tyrrhenia, Pelasgia-Prafinia, pre-dynastic Egypt - with which, according to Plato, the Atlanteans fought) were formed, and then (after the Holocaust) the surviving representatives Atlantean civilization created the known civilizations of Sumer and Ancient Egypt(this is directly evidenced not only by the legends and beliefs of the Egyptians and Sumerians themselves (the mention of the civilizing god Thoth-Hermes-Trismegistus among the Egyptians and the island of Dilmun among the Sumerians);

3. The predecessors - the ancestors of the Neolithic culture, as a result of the development of which Atlantis was formed in 15000 - 12000 BC They were most likely Cro-Magnons. At the same time, the development (evolution) of the Cro-Magnons from a primitive communal system to an urban-technocratic society did not take place within 2-3,000 (as orthodox historians suggest that we should consider using the example of Neolithic cultures of the period 9500 BC - 5500 BC). BC), and in the period 30-15 thousand years BC, that is, for 10-15,000 years, more than sufficient for the natural evolution of society and the technologies it uses. At the same time, the legendary Poseidon himself was most likely one of the most developed Cro-Magnons. Moreover, Plato himself writes in the dialogue “Critius” that Poseidon was an alien civilizer for Atlantis: -

“... So Poseidon, having received the island of Atlantis as his inheritance, populated it with his children, conceived from a mortal woman(most likely, Poseidon came to the island of Atlantis not alone, but as the leader of one of the most socially, intellectually and technologically developed Cro-Magnon tribes. And he “populated” the island with his children (i.e. people of a kind of tribe) - figuratively, and not in the literal sense of the word - Ed.), approximately in this place: from the sea to the middle of the island stretched a plain, according to legend, more beautiful than all other plains and very fertile, and again in the middle of this plain, about fifty furlongs from the sea, there was a mountain, on all sides not tall. On this mountain lived one of the men who were born there at the very beginning of the earth. (i.e. for the indigenous population of the island of Atlantis - Poseidon was a foreigner, an alien civilizer - Author's note), named Evenor, and with him his wife Leucippe; their only daughter was named Cleito. When the girl has already reached marriageable age, and her mother and father have died, Poseidon, inflamed with lust, unites with her; he strengthens the hill on which she lived, separating it from the island along the circumference and fencing it alternately with water and earthen rings (nothing supernatural for representatives of a civilization with the level of development of Sumer or Ancient Egypt - a typical practice of building cities in the presence of urban planning experience and technology. Moreover, according to Plato’s description, Atlantis was a classical city-state. Again - Sumerian and Egyptian practice - Author’s note .) of ever larger diameter, drawn like a compass from the middle of the island and at an equal distance from each other. This barrier was insurmountable for people, because ships and shipping did not yet exist. And Poseidon, without difficulty, as befits a god, brought the island in the middle into a comfortable state, issued two springs from the earth - one warm and the other cold - and made the earth provide varied and sufficient food for life (and again, nothing supernatural for representatives of ancient civilization - “springs” could be created by digging wells, and “making the land provide food” - through irrigation and reclamation of lands that were previously unsuitable for agriculture - Author’s note)…

4. The Atlantean civilization most likely existed in the period from 12,000 BC (the time of decline and disappearance of the Cro-Magnon culture in Europe, Asia and America) and until 9584 BC (the time of the Flood and the end of the Ice Age in Europe and, accordingly, the catastrophic destruction of Atlantis). At the same time, it should be noted that, based on the above factual material (according to Sumer-Akkad-Ur (4000-2000 BC), Egypt (3000 - 730 BC. BC) - conquest of Egypt by Nubia), Babylonia (2000-323 BC - victory of Alexander the Great over Persia), Ancient Greece(2000 - 27 BC - the subjugation of Greece to Rome), the Roman Empire (753 BC - 476 AD - the emergence of Byzantium)), the average lifespan of a full-fledged civilization is about 2000-2500 years. Thus, the existence of Atlantis - 2430 years - looks very plausible. By the way, the age of our own civilization (its birth can be roughly dated to the era of Socrates - Plato - when the foundations of science, philosophy and the principles of building a state were laid - i.e. to 640-347 BC) is already 2358-2651 years. In other words, our civilization (socially) has already come to an end. Which also looks quite symbolic (Plato discovered Atlantis for us and he also became one of the ideological founders of our own civilization)

5. The creators of the most ancient “de facto historical” civilizations of Sumer and Ancient Egypt, presumably, could well have been people from some island pracivilization - for example, Atlantis

Sources .

1. Gorbovsky A.A., “Facts, Guess, Hypotheses.” - M:., Knowledge, 1988

2. Zhirov N.F., “Atlantis”, 1957; Zhirov N. F. Atlantis. The main problems of atlantology (for the first time with the biography of the famous Russian atlantologist). - M., Veche, 2004

3. Plato. Dialogue “Critius” (adapted translation by S. Averintsev (book: Plato. Collected works in 4 volumes. Volume 3. M.: “Mysl”, 1994), with detailed comments and notes by A.A. Tahoe-Godi)

4. Mangerud, J., J. Ehlers, and P. Gibbard, 2004, Quaternary Glaciations: Extent and Chronology 1: Part I Europe. Elsevier, Amsterdam. ISBN 0-444-51462-7

5. Pielou, E.C., 1991. After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America. University Of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. ISBN 0-226-66812-6 (paperback 1992)

6. Sibrava, V., Bowen, D.Q., and Richmond, G.M., 1986, Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere, Quaternary Science Reviews. vol. 5, pp. 1-514.

7. “WORLD HISTORY”, Volume 1. - ed. Yu. P. Frantseva. - USSR Academy of Sciences, State. published Polit. Liter., M., 1955.

Video materials

11 thousand years ago, 30 kilometers northeast of modern Jerusalem, an event occurred that marked a new era in the development of mankind. One of the local tribes, later called the Natufians, unexpectedly stopped wandering around the ancient Levant and settled in a picturesque oasis in the Jordan Valley. Having not yet discovered agriculture, and not knowing how to make ceramics or metal tools, the Natufians nevertheless founded a permanent settlement, which became one of the first cities on the planet. The most amazing thing is the fact that, despite all the many millennia that have passed, it continues to exist in the same place. Onliner.by talks about Jericho, the oldest city on earth.

Until the end of the last ice age, it was difficult for humanity, which eked out a rather miserable existence during it, to organize a more or less large locality. The unfavorable climate and its regular changes forced representatives of the species homo sapiens to constantly wander from place to place in attempts to find food for themselves and, if lucky, continue the family line. During the glacial maximum (about 22-26 thousand years ago), all of northern Europe lay under ice, including even a fragment of the territory of the modern Vitebsk region of Belarus.

For example, the unfortunate Neanderthals, representatives of an alternative modern branch of human development, also became victims of this glaciation. Fortunately for all of us, any cold spell, no matter how eternal it may seem, is inevitably followed by a warm period, which happened again around 10,000 BC. A new, most important era is beginning in the development of mankind - the Neolithic, when our distant ancestors finally moved from appropriating the gifts of nature (hunting and gathering) to their independent production. Thanks to the improvement climatic conditions people discovered agriculture, learning to ensure their own food security by cultivating crops that are healthy for the body, such as cereals. The main center of this civilizational leap was the Middle East in general and the Levant (present-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria) in particular - a territory that descendants called the “Fertile Crescent”.

Maintaining agriculture a natural consequence was the transition to a sedentary lifestyle. The inhabitants of the Middle East were able to organize more or less permanent settlements, but few of those early Neolithic proto-cities are still inhabited today. One of these settlements arose near the Dead Sea in an oasis located in the Jordan Valley in modern Palestine.

It should immediately be noted that the age of many ancient cities, especially those that appeared long before the beginning of the written history of mankind, is a debatable issue and lies primarily in the area of ​​archeology. Of course, there can be no talk about any exact dating of their origin - scientists in this case are forced to operate over centuries and even millennia. Several settlements (for example, Syrian Damascus or Lebanese Jbeil) claim the status of the most ancient more or less continuously inhabited city on the planet, but even with serious competitors, Palestinian Jericho stands out among them.

“And the trumpets sounded, the people shouted with a loud voice, and because of this the wall fell down to its foundations, and the army entered the city, and they took the city.”

This famous story about the capture of Jericho by the troops of Jews heading to the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua - the first significant event where this settlement is mentioned in the Bible. The walls of the then prosperous city were destroyed thanks to the very trumpets of Jericho (and the loud voice of the people), and this famous legend was usually dated to 1400 BC.

The sensational discovery made in the 1950s by the outstanding British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon stunned the scientific and religious community. Working at Tel es-Sultan ("Sultan's Hill") on the outskirts of modern Jericho, Kenyon first excavated the remains of the biblical city. After conducting an appropriate analysis of the finds, it turned out that by 1400 BC, Jericho, which was supposedly about to fall from the sound of a trumpet, had already been in ruins for at least 150 years. But it wasn’t even this debunking of yet another myth that shocked us the most.

Continuing her work, Kenyon discovered a city on the planet that dates back to the very beginning of the Neolithic, a period when it would seem there was still no talk of modern-type human settlements.

Quite recently (in the archaeological sense, of course) another ice age ended. The vast majority of the planet's population had not yet had time to appreciate the benefits of this and begin to live in a new way, and in the sands of the future Judean Desert a settlement arose with an area of ​​2.5 hectares, in which about 2-3 thousand people lived. The most striking thing was the fact that this proto-city, from which Jericho later grew, was already surrounded by a fortress wall 10 thousand years ago, when the ancestors of modern Belarusians still obtained food with the help of digging sticks.

The Neolithic revolution (the transition to the domestication of animals and plants) had not yet taken place; the inhabitants of this settlement did not yet know ceramics, but the picturesque nature, favorable climate and the presence of several sources at once fresh water allowed them to create a community that was stable over many generations, living, moreover, in conditions that could (with some stretch, of course) be called urban.

The settlement was surrounded by a wall with a height of 3.7 to 5.2 meters and a thickness of up to one and a half meters. In front of the wall there was a ditch 2.7 meters deep. Inside the perimeter were several dozen round brick buildings on limestone foundations, each containing several rooms. There was no street network yet, the development was chaotic, but archaeological data testified to a level of labor organization and social structure unprecedented for the era (8500-8000 BC).

The inhabitants of Jericho subsequently quickly moved from collecting wild cereals to cultivating wheat and barley, from hunting to cattle breeding, and domesticated dogs (their burials were found right inside the buildings). At the same time, their life was surprisingly peaceful: even that very wall, probably the earliest surviving structure of its type on earth, did not have defensive functions, but served as protection against floods. At the very least, no archaeological evidence of military activity was found during this period.

The most amazing discovery was a round tower built into the wall with a diameter of 9 meters and a height of 8.5 meters with an internal staircase of 22 steps. It was also not built for defense, but, apparently, had exclusively ceremonial functions. According to researchers from Tel Aviv University, during the solar solstice (June 20 or 21), the shadow from the nearest mountain fell first on this tower, after which it covered the rest of the city. Thus, this structure probably symbolized the beginning of the lengthening of the nights, was a kind of astronomical instrument and, most likely, the central element of some ritual like the Slavic Kupala.

The walls of Jericho Tel es-Sultan and especially its tower, the most complex engineering structure for a Neolithic man, are perhaps the oldest buildings on the planet that have survived in a still inhabited city. Ten thousand years ago, when they were born, before the construction, for example, of the Great Egyptian pyramids There were still a long five and a half thousand years left in Giza.

The proto-city of Jericho, which became one of the cradles of modern human civilization, continued to exist quite successfully with minor interruptions for many centuries. This prosperous settlement, whose inhabitants eventually moved from subsistence agriculture to salt mining in the Dead Sea basin, was destroyed around 1550 BC, which is usually associated with the above-mentioned Old Testament legend of Joshua, the seven Israelite priests, the Ark of the Covenant and the Jericho pipes By that time, the settlement had grown, and a new double wall system took the place of the Neolithic fortifications. This is what Jericho looked like in the mid-Bronze Age, which fell victim to the resettlement of Jews from Egypt.

The Jewish city that arose on its ruins was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning of the 6th century BC, but the fertile Jordanian oasis was too tasty a place to be completely abandoned. Despite numerous waves of conquest, Jericho was revived again and again until, in ancient times, just before the advent of the new era, it became the residence of Herod the Great.

The remains of the palace of the Jewish king, who preferred to move here for the winter from Jerusalem, are now the second main attraction of Jericho after the Neolithic city at Tel es-Sultan. Under Herod, a hippodrome appeared here, and under him, a system of aqueducts was built, which has partially survived to this day.

Here are also the ruins of one of the oldest known synagogues on the planet (70-50 BC).

Jericho also occupies an important place in the New Testament. On the northwestern outskirts of the city there is a small (380 meters) Mount Carantal, Mount of Temptation or Forty Day Mountain. It was here, in one of the caves where, according to the gospels, Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days after baptism, the devil tried to tempt him three times.

Now a Greek Orthodox monastery has been built in this significant place for all Christians. The main object of worship in the cave itself, where the events described in the gospels took place, is the stone on which Jesus allegedly sat personally during his temptation.

Pilgrims arriving at Mount Temptation can conquer the peak on foot or take advantage of a relatively recently (and for some reason Japanese) cable car, which offers panoramic views of modern Jericho and the surrounding area.