1. Introduction

In 1997, the main goals of the Italian-Palestinian Expedition at Tell es-Sultan/ancient Jericho were, of course, resuming archaeological excavations at such an important site, at the crossroads of many cultural areas and different environments, which has provided one of the most complete chronological sequence in pre-classical Palestine, but also starting a pilot project of cooperation between the Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, and Rome �La Sapienza� University, which foresaw the training of young Italian and Palestinian archaeologists. The main focus of the Expedition during the four campaigns (1997-2000) was the investigation of the urban plan, stratigraphy and culture of the Bronze Age city (Sultan III-IV), also re-evaluating data collected by previous Austro-German and British Expeditions.

This task was accomplished opening nine excavation areas, with interesting results concerning the site topography and extension, the development of its fortification system, and the stratigraphic sequence, which has also allowed a reappraisal of finds of previous expeditions[3].

The fourth and last season of excavations of the Italian-Palestinian Expedition at Tell es-Sultan/Jericho took place in September-October 2000; unluckily, it was interrupted due to the severe political situation. Nevertheless, since then, the study of the results, stratigraphy and finds, produced by the Italian-Palestinian Expedition has continued, updating the archaeological knowledge of the history of the site.

The following summary presents the excavations results in stratigraphic and chronological order, following the most recent periodization, where the Early Bronze Age is represented by the four phases of Sultan IIIa-d, covering a period which lasted from the last third of the IV millennium BC till the end of the III millennium BC, and the Middle Bronze Age is represented by the three phases of Sultan IVa-c, from the beginning to the middle of the II millennium BC.