Jericho or Qericho?

Last night I read a fairly new article by Lorenzo Nigro, whom I gathered directs the Rome La Sapienza University excavation project in Tel es-Sultan (biblical Jericho). I've been vaguely familiar of his work since I tore through Iron Age publications last year trying to find mentions of LMLK stamped handles for a uni project. He was also part of a project in Beit Lechem, as well as other projects in Judea and Samaria. One important thing to note is that all of these projects were undertaken together with the "Palestinian" Ministry of Heritage.

The article I'm talking about summarized findings from the 2019-2023 season at Jericho. I was quite surprised to see identifications of many sub-strata, perhaps more than I'd ever seen in an excavation report (Early Bronze IVa and IVb? Who ever heard of splitting the Intermediate Bronze in two?). I skimmed the Bronze Age discussions, though. I'm usually more interested in the Iron Age findings.

There I received quite a stun. So wrote Nigro, p. 59:

"During Sultan VIb (Iron Age IIA, 960-840 BC), Jericho was in all likelihood a city of the Kingdom of Moab (and it might even be identified with the Qeriho [in Moabite dialect] mentioned in the Mesha Stele [...]"

I had never heard of this suggestion before. It wasn't his, he cited a 30 year old article, which may be worth reading in the future. The word he's referring to is קרחה, usually thought to be pronounced Qorcha or Qorcho (a final Heh can sometimes be pronounced like a Vav, see further such a biblical spelling of Jericho), something stated in the Mesha Stele to have been built by Mesha. Naturally its identification is debatable. A semantic switch from Jericho (Yericho - ירחו/יריחו/ירחה/יריחה) to Qericho is not impossible, but seems rare. We may note that Beit Yerach (בית ירח) in the Galilee's name was preserved in the Arabic Beit Kerak. Qericho is a non-plene spelling, much like many of Jericho's appearances in Tanach are in non-plene form (i.e., ירחו or ירחה instead of יריחו or יריחה, with יריחו being the modern spelling).

What I found to be most unusual about this identification is that it flies completely in the face of the Tanachic description. Since its destruction at the hand of the Israelites, Jericho as a lived locality appears rarely in Tanach (but in relation to the conquest is mentioned quite a bit), until it was rebuilt by Chiel of Beit El (Melachim 1:16:34). Rabbi Prof. Yoel Elitzur noted recently that this act was likely mentioned in conjunction with the rise to power of King Achav to explain why during the House of Achav cycle of stories the prophets and their students (Bnei Ha'neviim) are always hanging around Jericho.

Point is, all indications we have from the Tanachic text show that Jericho was always in the hands of the Kingdom of Judah and served as a border town between Israel and Judah. Thus, the interpretation of קרחה (Qorcha/Qericho?) as being a Moabite-controlled 9th-8th centuries Jericho is strange.

It bears noting at this point that Nigro did not appear to provide any material evidence that attests to the Iron IIb culture of Jericho being a Moabitic one (e.g., no mention of parallels between Jericho pottery of the period and Moabite pottery of the period) - he simply stated that this was likely the case (that Jericho was a Moabite city by the name of Qericho). Nigro did not mention the biblical text at all. I further checked, and found that he did not even mention Israel or Judah in his paper (except for a couple of mentions in the titles of some of his bibliographical citations). This leads me to suspect that the suggestion may be politically motivated. As previously mentioned, the excavation project is a joint working between the Italians of La Sapienza and the "Palestinian" Ministry of Heritage, one of whose first directors is notorious for having convinced UNESCO to recognize the site of Rachel's Tomb as a solely Muslim heritage site (some sheikh's tomb or something).

It seems to me likely that along with being descendants of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, Phoenicians, Arameans, Nabateans, Greeks, and Romans, the "Palestinians" are now also descendants of the Moabites. Who said so? Why, Nigro said so!

(picture taken from here)

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