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Six ruins in the region east of the Dead Sea are called locally by the same name, Khirbet el-Medeineh, which means "ruin of the little city." Since those ruins are in the same general area and have the same name, they are often confused with one another. The purpose of this brief communication is to clarify the confusion and provide some basic bibliography.

Modern explorers and archaeologists have tended to by-pass the plateau between Wadi Mijib and Wadi HesS for several reasons. It is somewhat isolated geographically, cut off by these two wadis, the Dead Sea, and the desert. It was not policed before 1894, which made travel into the interior extremely dangerous. During the present century, Palestinian archaeologists have tended to concentrate on the excavation of tells, and there are no big ones on this plateau. This is not to imply that central Moad escaped the attention of earlier explorers and archaeologists altogether.