February
05
/ 2025
During explorations in the rugged and arid Negev Highlands of southern Israel, archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities authority (IAA) stumbled upon something both extraordinary and totally unexpected. An excavation unearthed a mass burial site in a previously unknown location, near Tlalim Junction, along what is now suspected to be a route followed by long-distance ancient trading caravans, coming from as far away as Egypt, Phoenicia, and Yemen. The tombs that were discovered were quite ancient, dating back to approximately 500 BC. Given the time period and the paths the trading caravans were apparently following, they would have likely been trading both frankincense and myrrh, and according to the IAA archaeologists, a much darker cargo as well: women who would have
