Abstract: This paper gives a current reassessment of the evidence of trade between the Negev, Edom, and the Mediterranean in the Late Iron Age. Textual (Assyrian, Biblical) and archaeologi- cal data – especially the distribution of Edomite wares in the Negev - are used to propose a model in which trade was controlled by the local nomadic pastoral groups. The Edomite wares were man- ufactured by the heterogeneous ethnic groups (either Edomites or other peoples) living in Edom and the Negev during the Late Iron Age. The archaeological evidence argues that the traffic in Ara- bian incense between southern Jordan and the Mediterranean was controlled by the nomads living in the Negev and Edom. Keywords: Negev, Edom, Mediterranean, trade, incense, pastoral groups, Late Iron Age. Quite recently, Faust and Weiss produced a very substantial work on the commercial relationships between the southern Levant and the Mediterranean world in the 7 th century B.C. (2005). Among their conclusions, they argued that Judah and the Negev formed an economic zone primarily focused on grain ag- riculture and animal grazing. The Mediterranean demand for these products was the driving force behind the economic growth and relative urbanization of these areas (ibid.: 74–75). Faust and Weiss stand in contrast to the common view that connects the economic development in the Negev, and especially in the Beersheba valley, with the trade in southern Arabian incense (Singer-Avitz 1999; Finkelstein 1995: 139–153; Bienkowski and van der Steen 2001). In my opinion, the archaeological evidence of the Late Iron Age Negev shows that these two views are not contradictory, and that both the Mediterranean eco- nomic system and the Arabian trade were major factors that affected the soci- ety and economy of the Iron Age Negev. This paper 1 attempts to reconstruct the trade patterns in the Negev during the Late Iron Age, that is, between the late 8 th and early 6 th centuries B.C. It is TRADE AND NOMADS: THE COMMERCIAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE NEGEV, EDOM, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN IN THE LATE IRON AGE Juan Manuel Tebes National Research Council, University of Buenos Aires, Argentine Catholic University Glasnik Srpskog arheolo{kog dru{tva Journal of the Serbian Archaeological Society 22 (2006) 45–62. 1 The research and writing of this paper was carried out during 2004–2006 at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (AIAR) in Jerusalem, where I was George A. Barton Fellow, at the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, where I was the Pierre and Patricia Bikai Fellow, and at the Department of Egyptology (National Research Council) in Buenos Aires, where I am a Doctoral Fellow. I am most grateful to these three institutions, especially to the staff, for their help, advice and friendship.