Sunday, February 20, 2011

Is the Secret of the Tower of Jericho Solved?

Archeolgists: The 11, 000 year old building has something to do with the summer solstice.

Jerusalem   (kath.net/KAP)Two Israeli Archeologists want to solve the riddle surrounding the tower of Jericho.  As Roy Liran and Ran Barkai in the specialist magazine "Antiquity" write, the 11,000 year old structure clearly has some connection with the summer solistice. The cone shaped tower whose situation on the west side of the neolithic settlement has raised some questions, was erected as a kind of guardian against the powers of darkness.

After Liran and Barkai's observations puts the 8.25 meter high structure in alignment with Dschebel Quruntul, which in the Christian tradition is known as the "mountain of temptation" where Jesus is honored, and the point of the sunset on 21 June.  In a computer simulation the researchers from the University of Tel Aviv discovered that the angle of the shadows of the Quruntul-summit matches the tower exactly on the longest day.

According to their indication, the tower structure was a "symbol of strength" to the ancient inhabitants and an expression of their "ability to endure the awe inspiring powers of nature".   At the same time the Archeologists speculate that the builder used collective fear, in order to control the population. In this respect the tower is in the earliest phase of human settlement and also the earliest concrete monument of the "use of architecture as a means of calculating human control".

Link to msnbc, here

Link to kath.net original, here.

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