Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University/Nikolay Tarakhonav-Adani
Edomite artisans, though influenced by craftsmen from around the Levant, developed a style of pottery uniquely their own. At Tel Malhata, excavators found a 5-inch-high bowl resting on astragal feet—that is, feet molded in the shape of animal ankle bones; the bowl’s only parallel is from Buseirah (Biblical Bozrah), an Edomite site across the Arava Valley in Edom proper. Whatever purpose this finely crafted bowl served, it was not a cooking pot. All of the Edomite cooking pots found in the Negev so far were brought to Judah from Edom—but this astragal bowl, according to the excavator, appears to be made of local clay.