Tell Hesban

Amateur archaeologists will like Tell Hesban, 9km north of Madaba. Over the centuries this strategic hill has been a Bronze Age settlement, a Hellenistic fortress (198–63 BC), a Roman settlement called Esbus (63 BC–AD 350), a Byzantine ecclesiastical centre (AD 350–650), an Umayyad market town (650–750), a regional capital of the Abbasids (750–1260) and the Mamluks (1260–1500) and, finally, an Ottoman village. All these layers of history are on view, albeit faintly.