Shivta

Israel / Hadarom / Yeroham /
 village, place with historical importance, archaeological site, UNESCO World Heritage Site
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The city plan of Shivta was mapped, prior to World War I, by two archeologists arrived at Sobota to map out , T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and C. L. Woolley.
Shivta, or Sobota, was one of the largest Nabataean settlements in the Negev, but it's name was uncertain until the discover of the papyri in Nitzana during excavations there between 1935 and 1937.

In the early sixth century AD, earthquake damaged much of Shivta, and after this time, people were still being buried within the churches. The Greek inscriptions dated them from the years 595 to 679 AD.

For pics, go to nabataea.net/shivta.html
www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2024-07-21/ty-article-magaz...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivta
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   30°52'54"N   34°37'49"E

Comments

  • Shivta (Sobota) is an archeological site in the Negev Desert of Israel, east to Nittzannah (Nitsana). Long considered a classic Nabatean town and terminal on the ancient spice route, archeologists are now considering the possibility that the town was actually a Byzantine agricultural colony and a way station for pilgrims en route to the Santa Catarina, Egypt , located on the supposed site of Mount Sinai. The new assessment of Shivta is based on an analysis of the irrigation system found at the site, which bears parallels to Byzantine structures elsewhere. Until now, the preponderance of Byzantine ruins were believed to be the remains of a monastic community that established itself on the ruins of an earlier Nabatean town. Shivta was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO on June 2005.
  • Shivta has several names, including Sobota, subeita, isbeita http://holyland-pictures.com/category/negev/shivta has a good series of pics of the archeological remains
This article was last modified 1 year ago