Trivia: Who Killed The Dead Sea?

I'm currently reading Kenneth C. Davis' book, "Don't Know Much About Geography." You'll find the following excerpts on pages 170 and 171 found of his book:

First of all it isn't a sea at all but a lake. The Dead Sea, forming part of the border between Israel and Jordan, is a landlocked salt lake with no outlet. With the Jordan River as its source, the Dead Sea is located 1,289 feet below the level of the nearby Mediterranean Sea, making it the lowest exposed point on the Earth's surface. In biblical times it was known as the Salt Sea because its salt content makes it saltiest "sea" on Earth. The high salt content is a result of rapid evaporation of the water due to the area's extremely high temperatures.

This extremely high saline level makes it difficult to sustain any life forms, which is why it came to be called the Dead Sea. In the Middle Ages, visitors believed that the air above the Dead Sea was poisonous, because no birds flew over its waters. But there are no birds there because there is nothing for them to eat; there are no plants, and any fish carried in from the Jordan River are killed immediately by the water's high salt content.

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