Think outside the road: Negev connectivity beyond the ‘Nabatean incense route’

Gil Gambash, Gideon Avni, Guy Bar-Oz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article examines the Negev road-economy from the rise of the Nabatean civilization to the Early Islamic period (3rd C. BCE – 9th C. CE), focusing on the region's complex commerce networks, which connected between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean basin and, more broadly, between east and west. We discuss the economy of goods-transportation within the system of Negev connectivity, and we propose to update the limiting boundary lines imposed by the title ‘The Nabatean Incense Route’ on the medium connecting between Aila, Petra and Gaza. Our main aims are: to emphasize the longevity of the system, which functioned long before and after the floruit of the Nabatean society; to highlight the wide and colorful array of participants – other than the Nabateans themselves – who were acting within the system for their respective commercial purposes; to demonstrate the wealth of goods which was transported by means of the system in both directions – far beyond incense or even spice and aromatics more broadly; and to show how transportation itself was carried out throughout the system along networks of roads and hubs, rather than through a single, linear road.

Original languageEnglish
Article number105276
JournalJournal of Arid Environments
Volume225
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • Ancient near east
  • Nabatean incense route
  • Negev and aravah

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Ecology
  • Earth-Surface Processes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Think outside the road: Negev connectivity beyond the ‘Nabatean incense route’'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this