An Ancient Palestinian City: Jericho

Jericho (Tell es-Sultan, West Bank) is widely regarded as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Archaeological evidence dates settlement to the 10th millennium BCE (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A).

Key features:

• Massive stone tower (c. 8000 BCE) — earliest known monumental architecture.
• Perennial spring (Ein es-Sultan) enabling oasis agriculture.
• Strategic location on Jordan Rift Valley trade routes.
• Biblical fame: walls "tumbled down" in Joshua 6.

Today it remains a living Palestinian city (~20,000), layered with 11,000+ years of history.