linguistic:translation, structural:scholar_edition
19th century

In the 19th century, European scholars, archaeologists and missionaries visited often. At the time it was an oasis in a poor state, similar to other regions in the plains and deserts. Edward Robinson (1838) reported 50 families, which were about 200 people, Titus Tobler (1854) reported some 30 poor huts, whose residents paid a total of 3611 kuruş in tax. Abraham Samuel Herschberg (1858–1943) also reported after his 1899–1900 travels in the region of some 30 poor huts and 300 residents. At that time, Jericho was the residence of the region's Turkish governor. The main water sources for the village were a spring called Ein al-Sultan, lit. "Sultan's Spring", in Arabic and Ein Elisha, lit. "Elisha Spring", in Hebrew, and springs in Wadi Qelt.

J. S. Buckingham (1786–1855) describes in his 1822 book how the male villagers of er-Riha, although nominally sedentary, engaged in Bedouin -style raiding, or ghazzu: the little land cultivation he observed was done by women and children, while men spent most of their time riding through the plains and engaging in "robbery and plunder", their main and most profitable activity.

An Ottoman village list from around 1870 showed that Riha, Jericho, had 36 houses and a population of 105, though the population count included men only.

The first excavation at Tell es-Sultan was carried out in 1867.