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FRIEDBERT NINOW / BALU‘A REGIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

SUNRISE OVER THE QASR. Midmorning light illuminates the southern face of the Qasr (Arabic for “fortress”), easily the most imposing ruin from the site of Balu‘a in central Jordan. First fortified during the Iron Age (c. 1200–539 BCE in Transjordan), Balu‘a was strategically located along the biblical King’s Highway (mentioned in Numbers 20:17 and 21:22), which made it one of the most important towns of the kingdom of Moab. Ongoing excavations have revealed the site’s monumental and residential architecture, as well as artifacts that evidence Balu‘a’s cultural and political connections to the broader world of the southern Levant, including ancient Israel and Judah.