Jericho and the Dead Sea. Life and resilience

Since the Mesolithic period , and especially from the Neolithic period onwards, Tell es-Sultan at the foot of the Mount of Temptations by the spring of ‘Ain es-Sultan (Prophet Elisha’s Spring of the Bible), 7 km north of the Dead Sea, was the dominant site in the southern Jordan Valley on the western bank of the river. The site, lying 270 m under the sea level, graciously profited from the favourable environment of the oasis, formed by the abundant freshwater gushing out from the bowels of the mountains of the Judean Wilderness, and attracted animals and humans since the dawn of prehistory. Its natural resources made it easy to start a sedentary way of life for one of the earliest Neolithic communities of the Fertile Crescent, which stably inhabited the limestone hill overlooking the spring since 9,000 BCE.