Masuh: The 2001 TMAP Topographic and Archaeological Survey

In 2001, the Regional Survey of the University of Toronto’s Tall Madaba Archaeological Project (TMAP) conducted a topographic and archaeological survey at the site of Masuh in central Jordan. Using total station data and GIS software, this mapping project produced a site plan that incorporates Masuh’s visible archaeological remains (including a possible Roman temple, two churches, cisterns, and inscriptions) into its landscape. A small surface assemblage was also collected, including pottery, lithic tools, glass, a steatite vessel, and an Ottoman pipe. Analysis of these artifacts, especially the plain, painted and glazed ceramics, illustrates the site’s occupational history. There was an Iron II presence at Masuh, but thereafter, the site was apparently abandoned until the late Roman period. The late Byzantine-Umayyad and Mamluk periods are best represented in the surface collection, and occupation continued into Ottoman times, although the site was abandoned by the 19th century. The well-preserved site of Masuh, therefore, holds much promise for investigating village life in central Jordan from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages.