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Late afternoon sun warms the Judean hills in this view from Ai toward Jericho and throws the distant mountains, which lie beyond the Jordan Valley, into rosy relief. Beneath agricultural terrace walls in the foreground archaeologists excavated the Biblical city of Ai.

According to the Bible, Joshua’s main attack force in the baffle for Ai camped in view of the city, just to its north. The sunlit hill at the left edge of this photo, just beyond the village of Deir Dibwan, begins north of Ai and extends to the east. Joshua’s troops could have climbed to their camp from the far side of this hill before dawn to begin their attack.