Top 10 Oldest Continuously Inhabited Cities in the World

Located in the West Bank, Jericho is not just the top city on this list; it is a true 'living fossil' of human civilization. Archaeological evidence indicates that defensive walls were built here as early as 9000 BCE, suggesting that humans were planning urban defense systems long before the invention of writing.

Interesting Comparisons:

• Jericho’s walls predate the Great Pyramid of Giza by approximately 6,500 years.
• If the history of Jericho were condensed into a 24-hour clock, the entirety of modern civilization (the last 500 years) would account for less than the final 4 minutes. Having witnessed the rise and fall of countless empires, its status as a site of continuous habitation for over 11,000 years remains an extraordinary anomaly in global archaeology.