Figurine Fragments Led to Discovery of Edomite Shrine

While conducting an archaeological survey in the eastern Negev, Itzhaq Beit-Arieh made an extraordinary find on a flat-topped hill overlooking the Malhata Valley, a site that he would later name Horvat Qimit. Mized with the numerous, common, pottery sherds strewn over the landscape, among which were some Edomite pottery sherds, he found fragments of clay figurines and reliefs, artifacts that he had never before seen on the surface of sites in this archaeologically rich area.

Excavation of the site revealed even more of the cultic objects. Those shown here in situ include an ostrich, a hand and a dagger, at center, from left to right respectively.