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COURTESY OF APAAME / PHOTO BY DAVID KENNEDY

BALU‘A FROM ABOVE. Balu‘a is located on the Wadi al-Balu‘a, a tributary of the great Wadi Mujib (known in the Bible as the Arnon River), whose majestic canyon is just out of view in the far distance. Immediately across the Arnon, on its northern flank, was the city of Aroer, mentioned in the famous ninth-century BCE Mesha Stele in conjunction with the road crossing the wadi; Balu‘a likely had a similar strategic importance on the Arnon’s southern side (see map). Marked above are the three areas currently being excavated in the Iron Age part of Balu‘a: the massive structure known as the Qasr (A), a house in the residential district (B), and the site’s immense Iron Age fortification wall (C).