The four Nabatean towns of Haluza, Mamshit, Avdat and Shiv­ta, along with asso­ci­at­ed fortress­es and agri­cul­tur­al land­scapes in the Negev Desert, are spread along routes link­ing them to the Mediter­ranean end of the incense and spice route. Togeth­er they reflect the huge­ly prof­itable trade in frank­in­cense and myrrh from south Ara­bia to the Mediter­ranean, which flour­ished from the 3rd cen­tu­ry BC until the 2nd cen­tu­ry AD. With the ves­tiges of their sophis­ti­cat­ed irri­ga­tion sys­tems, urban con­struc­tions, forts and car­a­vanserai, they bear wit­ness to the way in which the harsh desert was set­tled for trade and agri­cul­ture.