08/21/2026
In 1990, Jeff Patton was there and described what he saw in a paper he wrote for his biblical archaeology prof at Hebrew U. The evidence is there for those who care to examine it.
Here is more recent take on the facts:
"Excavations conducted on the northern side of Tell es-Sultan, the confirmed ancient site of Jericho, revealed something genuinely remarkable worth sitting with directly, a short stretch of the city's lower defensive wall still intact and standing, with houses visibly built directly against this particular preserved section, structures that had somehow survived when the surrounding fortification otherwise collapsed completely during the city's dramatic destruction.
Sit with what this specific archaeological finding actually confirms when placed directly alongside the biblical narrative's specific details. The text explicitly states that Rahab's house was built into the city's outer wall, and that this specific location, along with everyone gathered inside it, was deliberately spared from the otherwise comprehensive destruction that consumed the rest of the fortified city. Excavation has now physically confirmed exactly this kind of surviving structural pattern existed at the actual site, a preserved wall section with attached dwellings remaining intact precisely while the surrounding fortification collapsed entirely.
This convergence between physical archaeological evidence and the specific biblical account deserves genuine consideration worth sitting with directly. This doesn't represent vague, general correspondence between an ancient text and archaeological findings requiring considerable interpretive flexibility to align. This represents a specific, distinctive detail, the deliberate preservation of one particular wall section while everything surrounding it collapsed completely, discovered through actual physical excavation precisely matching the specific narrative detail recorded within scripture.
This particular correspondence matters significantly for evaluating how seriously this entire narrative deserves to be considered as reflecting genuine historical reality rather than purely symbolic or theological storytelling detached from actual verifiable events. When archaeological excavation reveals a specific pattern of destruction matching precisely what an ancient text explicitly describes, wall sections collapsed everywhere except one particular preserved location where a specific family had been promised protection, this convergence provides genuinely meaningful evidence worth taking seriously, connecting the specific promise made to Rahab directly to the physical, excavated reality still visible at this remarkable, extensively studied archaeological site today."
...in a paper he wrote for his biblical archaeology prof at Hebrew U. The evidence is there for those who care to examine it. Here is more recent take on the facts: "Excavations conducted on the ...
