The Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum Project (MRAMP) is an Italian-American-Jordanian collaboration committed to establishing a new Regional Archaeological Museum in the city of Madaba, Jordan. The objective of MRAMP is to archaeologically prepare the area of the Madaba Archaeological Park West, in downtown Madaba, as the location for the new Museum, in order to display archaeological materials from the numerous excavations in the Madaba region. The sponsoring institutions of the project are La Sierra University, Gannon University, Perugia University, and the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Co-directors of the project are Dr. Douglas R. Clark, Dr. Marta D’Andrea, Dr. Andrea Polcaro, and Dr. Suzanne Richard; Mr. Basem Al Mahamid is the DoA on-site coordinator of the project and the Studio Strati of Rome is in charge of the new architectural plan.

Along with the main sponsoring institutions, the MRAMP was financially supported by USAID with a SCHEP (Sustainable Cultural Heritage through Engagement of Local Communities Project) grant received in 2017, housed at ACOR. Two Italian institutions – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto per le Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali (CNR-ITABC) and the Centre for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies (CAMNES) – provided in-kind contributions that allowed for the participation of experts in geomatics and restoration in 2017.

The main principle inspiring the proposal is community archaeology, i.e., archaeology as a common, public asset, to be used for public education through collaborative projects. The aim of our project is to involve the largest number of people possible, at differentiated levels, with goals targeted on diversified objectives relevant to local communities, to mass tourism, to specialized tourism, and to speacialists and scholars.

As a project of community archaeology, MRAMP has three main objectives: raising awareness of cultural and archaeological assets among local communities, valorization and fruition of cultural heritage, and capacity building and training of local specialists through cooperative research.

These goals will be pursued through differentiated means, from the fruition of the Museum itself, through educational endeavors to complement the exhibition according to multiple readings and understandings of it (from amateurs, tourists, beginners, and experts in the field), to educational and scientific activities including workshops, seminars, practice exercises in conversation, handling, and management of cultural assets.