Report on the 1996 Field Season of the Madaba Plains Project

"The 1996 season of the Madaba Plains Project (MPP) consisted of seven weeks of fieldwork carried out between June 16 and July 31, 1996. In addition to continued excavations and sub-surface mapping endeavors at Tall al ''Umayri and Tall Jalul, restoration of Tall Hisban as a tourism site was also begun. A variety of surveys and probes were also carried out in the hinterlands of all three sites, including a palaeoenvironmental survey of the Azraq and Wadi Hisban basins; an epigraphic survey of the desert to the east of the project area; a random-square survey in the region within a five km radius of Tall Hisban; and excavation of a Hellenistic farmstead. Project Rainkeep--a study of recent efforts to restore surface water collection practices in the project area--was also continued..."