"There is nothing, absolutely nothing alive in this sea; neither fish nor algae nor molluscs, only rocks and salt, candid saline formations that rise from the water like ghostly coral."
So states Bonechi and Steimatsky's guide to Masada and the Dead Sea. I like the bit about the ghostly coral. That's just what the Dead Sea salt formations resemble -- complex, exquisite, phantom.
Still, the guidebook was rash to emphasize the deadness of this uncanny 1,000-sq.-km lake. Several recently discovered species of microorganisms are alive and thriving in its deadly water; leopard, antelope and striped hyena prowl its shores, and for millennia humanity has been knee deep in its dense mineral riches: meditating, mining, developing major monotheistic religions and healing the scars that result from disputes over doctrine.