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31°1′48″N / 34°33′56″E
November 13, 2011. Remains of Rehovot-in-the-Negev/Ruḥeiba (Heb./Arabic). During the Nabataean era, this was the second largest city along the northeast–south Nabataean spice route. The importance of the settlement was due to its location in the center of the Ḥalutza–Nitzana–Sinai trade route. In the fifth century, during the Byzantine era, the city’s population was over 10,000. The city is now located on sand dunes close to the Egyptian border and encircled by closed military live-fire training zones, operative during weekdays. At bottom left is a water pool connected to a deep well. Also visible on the left is the main access route into the town which leads to the reconstructed central square. From the ground, these are the only visible remains. The rest of the city appears like a set of haphazard topographical wrinkles. From the air, at the end of the summer, the city becomes visible under a seemingly transparent layer of earth.