Nitzana Israel Photos

Nitzana is an ancient Nabataean city located in the Negev desert in Israel close to the Egyptian border. It may have been a station on the eastern branch of the ancient Incense Route, serving pilgrims and merchants traveling to Sinai or central Egypt. The Nabataean towns of the Negev were typically founded around the first century BC, conquered by Romans two centuries later, and inhabited by Byzantine Christians since the 4th century until the invasion and the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century. Relatively few stones remain on the site because most were recycled into buildings in Gaza. Photos by Rafael Ben-Ari/Chameleons Eye