Overview

Bibliography

Mesad Tamar is a small castellum on the road between Moab and Gaza through the Beersheba valley. A. Alt identified the site with Roman-Byzantine Tamara, though other scholars have identified Tamara with 'En Hatzeva to the south (that site has not demonstrated any Late Byzantine remains). The site was excavated from 1973 to 1976 by M. Gichon for Tel Aviv University.

Four construction phases have been identified at the site. The first phase, which laid out the basic plan of the fort, was constructed by the Nabateans, perhaps as early as the first century BCE, and it lasted until the period of Hadrian or later. The fort was restored by Aurelian around 270 CE, and then rebuilt largely along the same lines during the second half of the fourth century. The third phase of the fort lasted until the Persian conquest in 614. The fort was hastily rebuilt before the Arab conquest in 635 for its fourth phase, and then fell into disrepair and was abandoned afterwards.

The archaeological strata uncovered at the site, as illustrated in the site plan, date to the following periods:

	Late Roman/Byzantine Period
	Late Nabatean Period