In the high Negev there are ruins of the ancient city of Avdat. Established by the Nabateans, an Arab people, in the 1st century BCE, it served as a key point along the incense and spice route. The route ran from the Arabian peninsula, via Petra, into the Negev highlands and then out to ports on the Mediterranean Sea, where ships would take the spices deeper into the Roman Empire.
The Nabateans ran the city, high on a plateau above the desert, up until a major earthquake in the 7th century CE. They were famous not only for the spices and incense, but for great wine (see Deb next to ancient wine press, above). They also were Byzantine Christians-- and portions of two churches, with altars, as well as the baptismal font (the large cross shaped font for adults, the smaller one for infants), remain.
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