Nabatean Perfume and Spice Road

Yizhar Hirschfeld

The grant of the Shelby White-Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications will be used for research and publication of the final report of eight sites located along the Nabatean Perfume and Spice Road in the Negev Desert.

The eight sites are (see map): Mo'a (map reference 1624.9947), Horvat Qazra (map reference 1585.9966), Mezad Har Massa (map reference 1549.9975), Mezad Neqarot (map reference 1515.9985), Sha'ar Ramon (map reference 1438.0016), Mezad Ma'ale Mahmal (map reference 1431.9111), Mezad Grafon (13 88.0148), and Horvat Ma'agurah (map reference 1260.0306). The still visible remains were excavated in the 1970s and 1980s by Rudolf Cohen but were never published.

All those sites were established by the Nabateans between the 3rd century BC and I 't century AD along their trade route leading from Southern Arabia (the Kingdom of Sheba) through Petra, and ending at the port of Gaza on the Mediterranean coast. The demand for perfumes and spices in the Greco-Roman world was enormous; and it is this demand that made the fortune of the Nabateans. After the Roman annexation of the Nabatean Kingdom in 106 AD the Roman army took over control of this area which it maintained until the 3rd century AD. This particular section of the road was an essential part of the Nabatean trade route and constitutes a missing link in our knowledge of the subject. Given the location of the sites within an extremely arid region the conservation of structures and small finds, including organic materials, is outstanding.

Three years (2004-2007) of research and publication, executed by a team of ten specialized archaeologists, and supervised by the applicant, Yizhar Hirschfeld, will conclude with a camera-ready copy and the digital form of the monograph. The volume will include about 250 pages of text and approximately 450 illustrations to be published by Qedem, Monograph of the Institute of Archaeology (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.) Legal permission to publish the material was given to the applicant by the Israel Antiquities Authority.