Members of the British archaeological expedition which is excavating the ruins of Jericho believe that it was shovels, not trumpets, which caused the fall of that city 4,000 years ago before Joshua and the invading Israelites. They are convinced that the march of the Jews around that city and the blowing of trumpets was simply a maneuver for diverting attention from the more important work.
The British archaeologists believe that during the seven days that Joshua’s legions marched the Jewish engineers of that time were engaged in undermining the walls and placing trunks of trees in holes and crevices which were set on fire when the signal was given on the seventh day by the blowing of trumpets. But as regards the Biblical story that Jericho was destroyed by fire, the British archaeologists believe this to be true, since they have found much evidence, in the form of charred timber, stones cracked by heat and ashes, to support the Biblical account.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
