Masada is an ancient fortification in southern Israel, situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea 20 km (12 mi) east of Arad.
Aerial view of Masada, from the north
A caldarium (hot room) in northern Roman-style public bath (#35 on plan)
Funeral to the human remains unearthed at Masada, 1969. Menachem Begin and Yisrael Yeshayahu second and third in front from right.
Masada as painted by Edward Lear, 1858.
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a more resistant layer or layers of harder rock, e.g. shales overlain by sandstones. The resistant layer acts as a caprock that forms the flat summit of a mesa. The caprock can consist of either sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and limestone; dissected lava flows; or a deeply eroded duricrust. Unlike plateau, whose usage does not imply horizontal layers of bedrock, e.g. Tibetan Plateau, the term mesa applies exclusively to the landforms built of flat-lying strata. Instead, flat-topped plateaus are specifically known as tablelands.
Aerial view of mesas in Monument Valley, on the Colorado Plateau
Cockburn Range, Kimberley, Western Australia, Australia
Har Qatum, a mesa located on the southern edge of Makhtesh Ramon, Israel
Mount Conner, a mesa located in Northern Territory, Australia