The route of salt, sugar and balsam caravans in the Judean Desert

Abstract

More than twenty ancient roads have been constructed in the Judean Desert, two of them from the northern shores of the Dead Sea leading to Jerusalem: the northern one running from Jericho to Jerusalem, and the southern one, the “Salt Route”, from Khirbet Qumran to Jerusalem.

The majority of these roads were built for military and political purposes, while the “Salt Route” was built for economic ones: the transportation of salt, asphalt, sugar and possibly balsam from the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea shores to Jerusalem. The route also served the Christian monks going to their monasteries in the Og and Kidron valleys, and the Moslem pilgrims visiting Nabi Musa Tomb.