The Baluʿa Regional Archaeological Project (BRAP) officially began in 2017 with excavations at Khirbat al-Baluʿa under the current directors, Drs. Kent Bramlett, Monique Roddy, and Friedbert Ninow. The project is sponsored by La Sierra University, Theologische Hochschule Friedensau, and St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, with consortium support from Walla Walla University and Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology.

Khirbat al-Baluʿa is a multi-period site in central Jordan, north of Karak, stretching over approximately 20 hectares. Baluʿa is located next to the Wadi Baluʿa, which is a secondary tributary to the Wadi Mujib. In this location, Baluʿa was able to control a major north-south route and guard access from the north to the Karak Plateau over the millennia.

The BRAP has renewed excavations at this important site, identifying three main areas of excavation in a pilot season in 2017. GPS survey and test excavations in 2010 and 2012 established a preliminary map of the visible remains at the site. The most extensive period of occupation at Baluʿa dates to the Iron II period (1000–550 B.C.), when the city expanded to include a large, walled lower settlement. The Iron II settlement is impressive, with building walls preserved to over 6 feet in height and doorways with stone lintels still intact. The site is located in what is traditionally known as the Moabite region of Jordan in the Iron Age. Other periods represented at the site include a Middle Islamic village and a Nabatean sacred structure, as well as Bronze Age and Hellenistic occupations.

Dr. Kent V. Bramlett, Co-Director
Professor of Archaeology and History of Antiquity, La Sierra University
Curator and Associate Director, Center for Near Eastern Archaeology, La Sierra University

Dr. Monique D. Roddy, Co-Director
Associate Professor of History, Walla Walla University
Publications Manager, Center for Near Eastern Archaeology, La Sierra University

Dr. Friedbert Ninow, Co-Director
Dean, HMS Richards Divinity School, La Sierra University

Dr. Stephanie Selover, Field Director of the Iron II Domestic Structure
Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Languages & Civilization, University of Washington

Dr. Ian Jones, Field Director of the Middle Islamic Village
Clinical Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies, NYU

Dr. Charles Hughes Huff, Area Supervisor, Qasr & Historian
Assistant Professor of Scripture Studies, Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology
Dr. Craig Tyson, Area Supervisor, Qasr (2017-2022)

Dr. Owen Chesnut, Area Supervisor, Wall (2022)
Dawn Acevedo, Area Supervisor, Wall (2019)

Sarah Richardson, Geospatial Manager
Ph.D. Student, University of Manitoba
Dr. Susan Penacho, Geospatial Manager (2019)

Geoffrey Hedges-Knyrim, Archaeobotanist
Ph.D. Student, University of Connecticut

Dr. Douglas Clark, Pathways to Presentation
Director, Center for Near Eastern Archaeology, La Sierra University

Betty Adams, Lab Manager (2019, 2022)
Ph.D. Student, University of Reading
Dawn Acevedo, Lab Manager (2019)

Matt Vincent, OpenDig

Carolyn Waldron, Administration

Dr. Adam Schneider, Paleoenvironment Research Supervisor (BRAP-PER) (2019)
CIRES Affiliate, University of Colorado at Boulder