Endnote 43 – Was It an Essene Settlement?

From there, it runs inland along a relatively straight track to the khirbet at Zarzniq (1:100,000–18561270); then the track turns south along the relatively unbroken slope to Khirbet el Muntar on what 19th-century travelers described as the old Jerusalem road, which turns northeast to enter the city via the Kidron valley. Information on this routeway is difficult to find but is described by some of the 19th-century travelers. See, for example, Cunningham Geikie, The Holy Land and the Bible (London, Paris, New York and Melbourne: Cassell, 1887), vol. 2, p. 131. The road is shown without a name in Menashe Harel, “Israelite and Roman Roads in the Judean Desert,” Israel Exploration Journal 17:1 (1967), pp. 18–25. Subsequently, Harel named the road the “Salt Road.” “The Route of Salt, Sugar and Balsam Caravans in the Judean Desert,” GeoJournal 2:6 (1976), pp. 549–556. This route is an alternative to the Ma’ale Adumim, which carried traffic to the city of Jericho.