Hi everyone I’m Amanda Borschel-Dan and welcome to Times Will Tell, a weekly podcast from The Times of Israel.

This week we’re speaking with the Israel Antiquities Authority’s senior researcher Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini about the Nabateans' Incense Road, today a World Heritage Site. We’ll talk about the fall of the Nabatean trade route — possibly due to an epidemic — and other precious commodities in the ancient Holy Land including how globalization influenced antiquity.

For over 20 years, Erickson-Gini was the IAA’s Southern Negev sub-district archaeologist and she has conducted numerous archaeological excavations and surveys in many parts of the Negev and even Petra.

In 2019, Erickson-Gini excavated in a large area south of Ashkelon's Agamim neighborhood where she discovered evidence of wine and garum production from 2000 years ago. We’ll talk about that, too.

Erickson-Gini is also an adjunct lecturer at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. If you ever have a chance to hear her speak, it’s a thrill.

IMAGE: Tourists visiting Al-Khazneh "the Treasury" in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, November 11, 2016. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)