Dead Sea sparrow underparts are grey-white. The female is like a small house sparrow, with a streaked brown back, greyish head and buff-white underparts. She is paler and smaller billed than the house sparrow, and sometimes shows yellow on the neck sides. The eastern race "P. m. yatii" is sandier, and the male has a yellow wash to the underparts. The chirping song resembles those of house and Spanish sparrows, but is softer. The flight call is a high-pitched "chi-wit". This species is often silent. As its name suggests, is a breeding bird around the River Jordan, Dead Sea, and into Iraq, Iran
Dead Sea lake capable of supporting marine life. A similar prophecy is stated in , which says that "living waters will go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea [likely the Dead Sea] and half to the western sea [the Mediterranean]." Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters. The Nabateans and others discovered the value of the globs of natural asphalt that constantly floated to the surface where they could be harvested with nets. The Egyptians were steady customers, as they used asphalt in the embalming process that created mummies. The Ancient Romans knew the Dead Sea as ""Palus Asphaltites""