Ark of the Covenant

What exactly is the זֵר (zer), mentioned ten times in the furnishing of the Mishkan: A test case for the importance of archaeology^[1] 

Tradition has interpreted the Cherubs to represent anything from a child to a man, woman to an angel, from a bird to a Torah scholar. Ancient Near Eastern evidence answers this uncertainty, or at least tells us what the Cherubim originally meant.