Carl Watzinger

Carl Watzinger (1877-1948) was a German classical archaeologist and art historian who co-directed the excavation of Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) with Ernst Sellin from 1907 to 1909 and subsequently worked at other Levantine sites.

The Sellin-Watzinger expedition at Jericho was one of the earliest systematic excavations at this critical site. They identified massive mudbrick walls and a destruction layer that they initially associated with the Israelite conquest described in Joshua 6. Their published report, "Jericho: Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen" (1913), provided the first detailed stratigraphic analysis of the site.

However, Watzinger later revised his chronological conclusions, redating the destroyed walls to the Early Bronze Age (c. 2300 BC) rather than the Late Bronze Age, creating an apparent gap in occupation during the period when the biblical conquest would have occurred. This revision set the stage for the ongoing Jericho dating debate that would involve John Garstang, Kathleen Kenyon, and Bryant Wood in subsequent decades. Whether Watzinger's redating was correct or premature remains a contested question.

Watzinger also contributed to excavations at other sites and published on ancient art and architecture. His broader academic career included positions at German universities where he specialized in classical and Near Eastern material culture. His work at Jericho, despite its early date and limited methodology, established the basic stratigraphic questions that continue to define archaeological investigation at the site.