During the course of excavations at Giv’at Hatzva, which is west of the Hatzva-Tamar Fortress, and at Tamar, pottery vessels that were used in daily life were discovered alongside cult vessels that are customarily referred to as Edomite vessels. At Giv’at Hatzva which overlooks Tamar and the surrounding area, remains of a building’s foundations were exposed and around it was a scatter of pottery sherds, among them fragments of clay incense burners and “Edomite” pottery vessels. The remains of two furnaces that were used for producing copper were surveyed on the western part of the hill to the west of the building and alongside them were fragments of “Midianite” pottery vessels.


Inside the fortifications of Tamar, in Stratum 6 (seventh-sixth centuries BCE), above Strata 7A and 7B (ninth-eighth centuries BCE), in the mudbrick silo and in the layers of leveling and fill of Strata 5-3 (first-fourth centuries CE), a personal “Edomite” seal and fragments of pottery vessels were discovered among them “Edomite” vessels. Building remains of Stratum 6 in which there were “Edomite” pottery vessels were also exposed outside of and at the foot of the northern fortifications of Tamar, along both sides of the city gate ramp from Stratum 7A. A large typical four room house was exposed east of the city gate ramp. Building remains that are ascribed to a “temple” complex were discovered west of the gate ramp, on the top of the glacis that ascends from the Stratum 7B moat, and next to the retaining wall of the casemate wall. One of these was found buried in the complex, including its various architectural elements and its objects that were shattered, among them Edomite vessels. The remains that were found in Stratum 6 at Tamar indicate that domestic, everyday life was conducted there during the seventh-sixth centuries BCE. It seems that after the destruction of Stratum 7B, in 743 BCE, its stones and mudbricks were put to secondary use for building the mudbrick silo, part of the temple complex, the open temple including its architectural and cultic parts and the four-room house. These complexes served 'משכת בן וחזם' "הכהן מתמר" whose prayers together with the burning of incense aided the travelers in reaching their destinations of Eilat, Tawillan, Horbat Rogem, Qadesh Barnea’, ‘Uza, Tel Malhatta, Aroer, Tel Masos, Tell Shari’a, Tel Haror, etc.