Ein Bokek is a modern hotel and resort complex on the shore of the Dead Sea, offering various types of spas and Dead Sea health treatments. But missed by most tourists attracted to this somewhat ugly complex are the archaeological findings, including the ruins of Metzad Bokek (Bokek Stronghold), a small fortress commanding the main road, built by the kings of Judah to provide protection against Moabite attacks, and the remains of an ancient, partly-reconstructed perfume and medicine factory. In addition, the Bokek Stream, for which the district is named, is a canyon-like gorge with water springs and unique fauna and flora.
Left: the Bokek Stronghold; Right: modern Ein Bokek.
The Dead Sea is a highly saline lake, 430.5 metres below sea level, being the lowest place on the planet. At 304 m deep, it is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world, with 34.2% salinity, almost ten times as salty as the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment in which plants and animals cannot survive, hence its name. The Dead Sea water has high density of 1.24 kg/litre, which makes swimming similar to floating.
The Dead Sea is 50 kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley and its main tributary is the Jordan River; it has no outlet and its level has historically been maintained within limits by evaporation from the intensely hot climate. However, in recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north. The southern end is fed by the snaking canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works. More on that later...
The southern end of the Dead Seas is now fed by the snaking canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works
A little further south, just after the junction with route 31, which goes west to Arad, you pass an old stranded boat, and the Lot reservoir.
A stranded boat and the Lot reservoir
Continuing south on route 90, one of the most famous landmarks is the so-called Lot's wife, a pillar of salt located near the Dead Sea at Mount Sodom. Genesis 19 describes how Lot's wife became a pillar of salt after she looked back at Sodom, whilst being saved from its destruction. The Mishnah states that a blessing should be said at the place where the pillar of salt is.
In fact Mount Sodom (הר סדום) or Jebel Usdum (جبل السدوم,) is indeed composed of about 80% rock salt, this species being known as "bedded halite." The mountain is 220 m high, and capped by a layer of limestone, clay and conglomerate that was dragged along as it was squeezed up from the valley floor. You can see a slideshow below - hover over each photo for its caption.
The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from asphalt for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers. The salt and minerals from the Dead Sea are also used to create cosmetics and spa sachets.
Near to Mount Sodom can be found the Dead Sea Works, established in 1930 by Moshe Novomeysky as the Palestine Potash Company. From 1936, it was a profitable enterprise despite attempts by the German potash cartel to strangle the business by dumping potash at below-cost prices. In the Israel War of Independence in 1948, the northern half of the production facilities was occupied by the Jordanian Legion, and was destroyed in the ensuing fighting. In 1951, the company was nationalized by the Israeli government under the Ministry of Development and given its current name in 1953. It is the world's fourth-largest producer and supplier of potash products, also producing magnesium chloride, industrial salts, de-icers, bath salts, table salt, and raw materials for the cosmetic industry. It is part of the Fertilizers Division of Israel Chemicals Ltd.
Many of the products of the Dead Sea Works are white salts, but some of the potash products are red, as seen on the right
Twenty kilometres south of the Dead Sea we visited the final place on this leg of our journey, before spending the night at moshav Tsofar. This was Tamar Fortress, also known as Hatzevah Fortress, which however is more than a mere fortress.
First observed and documented by Alois Musil in 1902, the Roman fortress was identified on Fritz Frank's 1932 travels in the region. In 1934, Nelson Glueck identified the location as a Nabatæan caravanserai co-opted by the Romans, but the site's true significance was noted by Benjamin Mazar and Michael Avi-Yonah's 1950 discovery of sherds from the First Temple period, and it is now known that this extensive archaeological complex dates to the 10th century BCE (United Monarchy/First Temple period).
In the 1960s, it was first suggested by Yohanan Aharoni that the site might be the same as Tamar of the Book of Ezekiel 47:19 and 48:28, and Eusebius of Caesarea's Tamara. The first salvage excavation took place in 1972 under Aharoni and Rudolph Cohen's direction, but much of the work was carried out by Cohen, Yigal Yisrael, and recently Tali Erickson-Gini, following the 1986 involvement of "Blossoming Rose" in partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority, Jewish National Fund and Tamar Regional Council. Ancient Tamar, or Ein Hatzeva, now shares a site with Ir Ovot, formerly a kibbutz (1967–1980s), and now a small group of homes near New Ein Hatzeva.
There is an enormous ancient Jujube tree (Ziziphus Spina-Christi or "Christ Thorn") at Tamar (see below), confirmed the oldest tree in Israel, with an estimated age of 1,500-2,000 years. It owes its life to the adjacent spring, described as "bubbling" by Lawrence of Arabia in his "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" (1922). The spring is now dry, and the tree is artificially irrigated. You can see a slideshow of Tamar below - hover over each photo for its caption.
We ended the day enjoying the sunset...
Continue with us into the Arava desert here.