Delineating the process by which the Iron Age communities in the central highlands of Jordan coalesced into the culturally and territorially defined polities referred to in ancient Near Eastern sources is not an easy task. By the mid-9th century BCE, however, a mosaic of autonomous regional communities appears to have emerged, as tacitly acknowledged in the contemporary Mesha Inscription. This study presents a summary of the Tall Mādabā Archaeological Project's (TMAP) ongoing investigations of the Iron Age levels at Mādabā, consistently identified in the documentary record as a prominent settlement in the central highland region during this period, including the results of recently analyzed radiocarbon evidence. Though preliminary, it is hoped that these results will contribute toward the continuing effort to gain a better understanding of the historical development of this region, and its broader role in the cultural and political history of the southern Levant.