8. Sultan IVc - Middle Bronze III (1650-1550 BC)
A major transformation of
the city marked an overall urban reorganization at Tell es-Sultan and the last
stratigraphic phase of development of the Middle Bronze Age, Sultan IVc. The
latter phase was investigated by the Italian-Palestinian Expedition mainly in
Area A, where the building technique of the third and last rampart was definitely
clarified.
At the
beginning of Sultan IVc (Middle Bronze III), the city of Jericho was again
reduced in size, and part of the southern Lower
Town was razed
for the construction of a
rampart sustained by a massive
stone retaining wall set within a foundation trench and covered by a sloping
embankment with a superficial revetment
of crushed limestone.
The Cyclopean wall, already excavated especially by the Austro-German
Expedition, was not to be seen in the intentions of its builders. This datum is
even mostly significant since similar defensive structure were excavated in many
other Palestinian sites, such as
Khirbet Seilun, Tell Balatah and Tell el-Mutesellim (northern Lower Town).
A violent destruction
brought to a sudden end the city
of Period IVc, around 1550 BC or some years later. There is no available
evidence for attributing this event to some enemy, even though one has to stress
the strategic importance of the site, the southern gate of the Jordan Valley.
The intervention of a strong foreign power seems, thus, historically possible,
since the city was so badly shattered that it was abandoned for various
centuries and the inhabitants probably moved to another area in
the Jericho Oasis.