Eastern (Kenyon's) Trench

View from the top of the mound looking west, down into one of the main "trenches" that Kathleen Kenyon cut into the mound. Kenyon excavated Jericho in the 1960's and erosion from the rain has taken its toll on the sides of the trench.  The grate visible in the lower left corner of the image is on top of the Neolithic Tower that Kenyon excavated.

The "trench method" of excavation is done in order to get an overview of the various levels (strata) of civilizations found at a given site (tell). This method is not too costly, and in a brief period of time it can give the archaeologist a reasonable survey of what to expect when excavating other parts of the mound (tell). In addition, because it does not remove all the remains of a given stratum, the excavators have left some of the mound for future generations of archaeologists to excavate.

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To view additional images Jericho Click Here.

Image from the Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, p. 260. To view/use additional images from the Atlas Click Here.