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7. Sultan IVb - Middle Bronze II (1800-1650 BC)

After a major destruction, occurred towards the end of Sultan IVa (Sesostris III�s campaign?), the city of Jericho was again rebuilt and a new fortification system was erected all around the tell, consisting of a rampart made up by a massive stone wall at its outer bottom (partly reusing, partly reconstructing the previous mud-brick city-wall)[52], supporting a series of earthen fillings with a crushed limestone or clay revetment, and of an upper wall with subsidiary buildings over it.

A long stretch of the stone wall at the base of the rampart has been brought to light in Area E, at the south-western corner of the site. At the middle of this wall a rectangular structure protrudes out of the line of the city fortification, possibly the foundation of a defensive tower. Inside the Tower, in a layer of destruction apparently belonging to MB II, a clay figurine of a lioness was found[53].

The upper part of the rampart was examined during the first two seasons in Area C, at Kenyon�s Trench I, where a series of supporting walls were identified just below its top[54]. At different sites around the tell the rampart was made with different techniques, so that it is yet complicated to identify the exact phase of utilization of each stretch.

A major result of the Italian-Palestinian Expedition was the discovery of a Middle Bronze II lower city, encompassing the tell on the eastern and southern sides, and including the spring within the fortified urban area. In Area A, just south of Kenyon�s Trench III, the defensive building (A1) continued to be in use, and its abutting tower (fig. 49) was now encircled by houses, as the city was enlarged towards the Oasis. While on the eastern side private houses abutted over the Tower, on the western side, a wide area interpreted as an inner courtyard of a fortress, was paved with pebbles and clear from buildings; moreover, the western wall of the Tower (W.19), stretched north-west and south-east, thus indicating that the Fortress was a huge one. The group of houses built outside Building A1 and against the Tower, had three main reconstructions during Sultan IVb. These houses gave a large inventory of domestic items and pottery, as well as some interesting finds, such as a calcite alabastron [55], and a bronze

adze. Sultan IVb was perhaps the most flourishing phase in the history of the Middle Bronze Age city of Jericho, as it is also shown by the rich necropolis, and it ended in the second half of the 17^th century, due to an unknown cause[56].

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.