In the course of a survey of the Judean Desert carried out a few years ago by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Ministry of Heritage, and the Civil Administration Staff Officer for Archaeology in Judea and Samaria, a group of buildings dating to the last days of the Kingdom of Judah was discovered alongside the road ascending from Ein Gedi to the Judean Mountain ridge and the major cities of Hebron and Jerusalem.This would be balsam (צרי), the biblical "balm of Gilead," which in the Mishaic period was apparently also known as "persimmon" (אפרסמן). (I think I have that right.) For more on balsam in the Second Temple period, see here and here. (There is also the claim that the balm of Gilead came from the resin of the pistachio tree.)Saar Ganor, Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist and researcher of the First Temple period proposes that these buildings may have safeguarded the route along which convoys transported the coveted expensive persimmon perfume.
I had heard of the Aramaic Ein Gedi synagogue curse mosaic, but this article gives additional details.
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