ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev

Do you know what incense is? It's a special kind of smelly thing that gives off a nice smell when it burns. A long time ago, people used to use incense to make their homes smell nice and also as part of their religious ceremonies.

Now, imagine you lived a long time ago in a desert city in the Negev, which is a big desert in the Middle East. You might want to buy some incense to make your home smell good or to use in your religious ceremonies, right?

But how would you get to the place where they make the incense? It's not like you can just drive a car there. This is where the incense route comes in.

The incense route was a special path that people would travel on to buy and sell incense. It went through the desert and connected many different cities together.

People on the incense route would travel by foot or by camel, carrying the incense with them. They would stop in different cities along the way to rest and trade with other people.

In the Negev desert, there were many cities on the incense route, including Avdat, Mamshit, and Shivta. These cities were important because they had access to water and other resources that people on the incense route needed.

Today, you can still visit these desert cities and see the ruins of the buildings that were once used by people on the incense route. It's like taking a step back in time to see how people used to live a long time ago and how they traded goods like incense across the desert.