Volume 29.1 Summer 2017 �e Madaba Plains Project @ 50 Douglas R. Clark with contributions by Lawrence T. Geraty, Larry G. Herr, Øystein S. LaBianca, and Randall W. Younker �e Madaba Plains Project (MPP) just turned 50 based on its intended beginning at Heshbon in 1967. How- ever, the formal term MPP came into being only in the early 1980s with emerging plans to continue archaeological investigations in the region at such sites as Tall al-‘Umayri and Tall Jalul. �e institutional partners and individual participants are now celebrating its golden anniversary. In the process, MPP leaders are stepping back to assess whether the project has maintained its objectives and also whether it has kept up with the times. �e Madaba Plains region (Google Earth, 2017) (subsequent photos courtesy of Madaba Plains Project unless otherwise noted) For more information, visit www.madabaplains.org and www.multi.madabaplains.org (with 50th anniversary events noted) In the half century since 1967 (see sidebar) and the �rst seven-week expe- MPP’s Beginnings dition in 1968, staffed by 42 people, the Heshbon excavations carried out �ve Lawrence T. Geraty (La Sierra University) regular seasons plus one summer at the Heshbon North Church (1968–1978), �eMadabaPlainsProjectinJordantraces with seven seasons in Phase 2 (Hisban Cultural Heritage Project 1996–2010), its roots back to 1967 when Siegfried Horn and one season each year in Phase 3 (2011–2017). Tall al-‘Umayri was opened (Andrews University) decided to start his in 1984 and has seen 18 excavation seasons through 2016. �e �rst year at Tall own archaeological �eldprojectatthesitenow Jalul came in 1992, and excavation teams have been in the �eld there for 18 known as Tall Hisban, thought to be biblical seasons through 2017. Heshbon. He had contacted G. Ernest Wright, �is means a total of 56 seasons of excavation among the three major MPP William Foxwell Albright, Roland DeVaux, sites. In addition, there were several rural locations surveyed and/or excavated, Kathleen Kenyon, and Martin Noth, asking, “If as part of the hinterland surveys surrounding Hisban, ‘Umayri, and Jalul. To you had the opportunity to excavate a new site staff these excavation and survey seasons, over 2200 people have participated, in the Holy Land, what would be on your list?” some multiple times. Directing the efforts following Siegfried Horn and Roger �eonlysiteincommononallthelistssentwas Boraas, �ve individuals started at or near the beginning of MPP: Larry Geraty Tall Hisban, identi�ed as biblical Heshbon. It in 1968, Larry Herr and Sten LaBianca in 1971, Doug Clark in 1973, and Randy was also the best option in terms of excavation Younker in 1984. logistics and feasibility at the time. Growing with the Times So the �rstseasonwasplannedtobeginthe Hallmarks of the Madaba Plains Project—adopted, adapted, and/or initiated by �rst Monday in June 1967, which coincided MPP and reviewed publicly over the years—include: inter- and intra-institutional with the beginning of the Six Day War. �e collaboration; multifaceted research designs; multidisciplinary approaches in a U.S. Embassy had caught wind of what was regional context; new theoretical constructs to explain phenomena unearthed and happening and thus on the Friday before had observed; international participation; educational �eldschoolseachseason;cut- counseled cancellation of the project. So all ting-edge technology for use in data harvesting and analysis, as well as information the tents and equipment were packed up and sharing; rapid publication schedules; and, more recently, community archaeology. returned to the American School of Oriental Together, this multi-layered synergy and these multiperiod sites provide rich op- Research (ASOR) in Jerusalem (later called portunities for studying various aspects of socio-cultural and political change in the W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological the Madaba Plains region of central Jordan over �ve millennia. Research) just in time. �e start of the project With these benchmarks in mind, in the golden glow of 50 years in the �eld, was postponed until July of the following how has the MPP done in sticking to its principles and at the same time grow- summer. ing with the times? What trajectories in its long history might illustrate rigorous Why Tall Hisban? �edatingoftheExodus dedication to best practices as well as supple �exibility in the face of challenges was a much-discussed topic in those days, one in a changing discipline? What about objectives achieved and lessons learned? of great interest to Horn, and Heshbon was What about contributions made and perspectives shelved? renowned in the Bible as the capital of Sihon, �e history of MPP, while long characterized by steady commitments to the Amorite king, and the location of the �rst best practices and serious research, is a story of transitions, signi�cant pivots, recorded ba�le following the Exodus out of and major changes. What began primarily with theologians on a quest to under- Egypt. What be�er place to help date the stand—even prove—components of early biblical history, morphed over time Exodus and provide historical background for into something different. Sihon, the Amorites, and the emerging Israelite With the encouragement of several leading biblical historians and theolo- se�lement in Canaan? gians, Siegfried Horn sought and found in Heshbon an archaeological site with potential to help date the Exodus from Egypt. Given the intense debates in the Periods/Ages/Eras Approximate Dates mid-to-late 1900s about the nature and date of this theologically seminal event in Early Bronze I (EB I) 3500–2700 B.C. the Hebrew Bible, Heshbon presented an ideal venue to resolve a major dilemma. Early Bronze II (EB II) 2700–2500 B.C. Other sites that are part of the Joshua conquest narrative were falling—not to Early Bronze III (EB III) 2500–2200 B.C. ancient Israelites, but to modern archaeologists, the results of whose work un- Early Bronze IV (EB IV) 2200–2000 B.C. dermined their role in the story, or at least rewrote parts of it. With published Middle Bronze I (MB I) 2000–1750 B.C. reports from excavations at places like Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) and Ai (et-Tell) Middle Bronze II (MB II) 1750–1550 B.C. Late Bronze I (LB I) 1550–1400 B.C. in the news, Horn looked to Heshbon for help to withstand the onslaught on Late Bronze II (LB II) 1400–1200 B.C. the traditional account. Iron I 1200–1000 B.C. Because of the MPP’s search for biblical history, the �rst season proved Iron II 1000–550 B.C. extremely disappointing. It quickly became apparent that occupation at the site Persian 550–400 B.C. of Heshbon did not pre-date the early Iron Age and thus would not be helpful Late Persian-Hellenistic 400–200 B.C. in de�ning Late Bronze Age events described biblically in connection with the Hellenistic 200–50 B.C. Early Roman 50 B.C.–A.D. 135 Exodus and conquest, including the famous ba�lebetweentheIsraelitesandSihon Late Roman A.D. 135–350 of Heshbon, king of the Amorites. What followed can only be a�ributedtoHorn’s Byzantine A.D. 350–650 broad-mindedness and the pluck of young graduate students with new ideas. Islamic A.D. 650–1918 (end O�oman era) Without discarding their interest in biblical history, MPP leadership, for the Modern 1918 to Present most part, moved beyond the text-based “biblical archaeology” of W.F. Albright 2 and G.E. Wright to an archaeology of biblical lands and peoples based more on scienti�c inquiry and empirical results, where certain “preferred pasts” encoun- Tall Hisban tered converging lines of observable evidence. Leaders also enlarged the project’s Øystein S. LaBianca (Andrews University) research design to include scienti�cresearchin�eldslikepaleobotany,paleozool- Located at 885 m above sea level along the ogy, human osteology, ancient climate investigations, ceramic typology (not just edge of the highland plateau that overlooks the for the biblical periods as was common practice at the time but particularly for Jordan River Valley from the east, the summit the Islamic periods) and technology, anthropological models of food systems of Tall Hisban provides a panoramic view of the and cycles of se�lement pa�erns, ethnographic studies of social structures, and plains of Madaba to the east, and to the west sustainable approaches to the preservation of cultural heritage and community Mount Nebo and the northern tip of the Dead engagement in its presentation. �ese informed newly developed theoretical Sea. Because of its commanding location, its constructs to enhance explanation through scienti�c processes. Add to these natural endowments of annual rainfall, fertile theoretical and scienti�cinnovationsverypracticalimprovementsindetailedand valleys and slopes, and construction-quality precise recording techniques (now also utilized by many other excavation projects limestone, Tall Hisban became a place for in Jordan) and a more sophisticated collection of data could be developed and the performance of power by various elites, used in expanded scienti�c undertakings with more reliable outcomes. going back more than three millennia. �us, As these impulses toward enlarging research capacity and following sustain- excavations at the site have uncovered traces of able best practices permeated the excavations at Hisban, ‘Umayri, and Jalul, a long succession of imperial powers that have so, too, did initiatives to enhance and expand the use of computer technology. in�uenced the material culture and daily life at Hisban over time, including the Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, Ptolemaic Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Umayyads, Abbasids, Ayyubids, Mamluks, O�omans, and British. Archaeo- logical features that a�est to the in�uence of these powers are seen throughout the site. As important, however, is what a visit to the site can teach about the adaptive strategies and resilience of local farmers and shepherds in coping with the cultural and political programs imposed by outsiders.