Using Elevation Contours to Find Tell Madaba

Map of Israel and Jordan showing location of Madaba

Highways in vicinity of Amman and Madaba

If you use Google Earth to view Madaba at Lat 31º 43' N, Long 35º 48' E, you might be hard pressed to see where the mound of Tell Madaba is located. Thats's because the city has grown up all around it. Here is a Google Earth image of Madaba with photograph locations turned off.

To call attention to the Tell, I used Google Earth's elevation readout along with its Add Path function to create elevation contours spaced at 25 feet intervals. After doing this, it becomes apparent where the mound is. According to the Google Earth Digital Elevation Model (GE DEM) the highest elevation on the mound is 2624 feet (800 meters). On the image below, the mound is coincident with the ovoid contour line in the center of the black one-mile-square box.

Annotated Google Earth image of Madaba, Madaba Governorate, Jordan

The coordinates of the highest point of the mound are 31º 42' 53" N, 35º 47' 36" E. The border of the Tell Madaba Archaeological Project (TMAP) area of interest is identified by the dark-red square. The following two maps are copied from the TMAP Preliminary Report - 1996 Field Season.

Figure 1

Figure 2

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