Jericho’s Inform es-Sultan Designated as UNESCO Globe Heritage Web page | Historic News
Jericho’s Inform es-Sultan has not too long ago been recognized as a Globe Heritage Web page in Palestine. This declaration was created by the United Nations, which describes it as the “oldest fortified city in the globe.” Iyad Hamdan, the director common of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Jericho, believes that this selection not only strengthens Palestinian identity but also supplies international recognition.
The ruins close to the ancient city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank have been offered this particular status for the duration of a UN Globe Heritage Committee meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Inform es-Sultan is an oval-shaped mound positioned roughly 10km northwest of the Dead Sea and almost a single mile north of contemporary-day Jericho. It includes proof of prehistoric human activity dating back to the ninth millennium BCE, as effectively as a perennial spring nearby. Inside the web site, archaeologists have found fortification walls, trenches, palaces, staircases, and towers from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.
According to Hamdan, Inform es-Sultan is especially substantial simply because it represents the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agricultural a single. It is the oldest fortified agricultural settlement in which Palestinians moved beyond hunting and gathering to the practices of agriculture and animal domestication. Hani Noureldin, a professor of archaeology at Abu Dis University in Jerusalem, believes that this web site exemplifies the value of human civilization in Palestine. Noureldin describes Inform es-Sultan as an exceptional case, as it supplies insights into the improvement of civilizations in the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, and the Levant for the duration of the third and second millennium BCE.
Noureldin also highlights the creativity of the site’s inhabitants. The burial rituals found at Inform es-Sultan involve the decoration of human skulls. The skulls have been covered with a smooth layer of plaster and painted with organic colors. This practice serves as proof of the sophisticated cultural improvement of the ancient inhabitants.
With its recognition as a Globe Heritage Web page, Inform es-Sultan now joins 3 other designated websites in Palestine: the birthplace of Jesus, the old town of Hebron, and the cultural landscape of the village of Battir south of Jerusalem. These websites collectively present a wealthy tapestry of Palestinian history and heritage.
