Shivta

1 · POSITION

Shivta, about 43 kilometres southwest of Beersheba, is a desert town whose water came entirely from surface runoff gathered in large reservoirs. The register holds it for what that made possible: a town that could feed and water travellers where almost nothing falls from the sky. [1, 2]

2 · NABATAEAN OR BYZANTINE

Long considered a classic Nabataean town, Shivta has Roman remains of the first century BC in its southern part; some archaeologists now argue it was a Byzantine farming colony and a resting place for pilgrims bound for Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. Either reading makes it a station on someone’s road. [1, 2]

3 · THE TOWN

Excavation uncovered three Byzantine churches — a main church and two smaller — with houses, administrative buildings and wine presses. The town was abandoned in the eighth or ninth century, and was inscribed by UNESCO in June 2005 with the other desert towns of the incense road. [1, 2]

4 · RUNOFF AS HOSPITALITY

Shivta’s reservoirs are the reason the register files it: the hospitality of a desert begins with the collection of water, and here the whole town was built round it. [1]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ Checked on 22 October 2026. A hundred millimetres was not found; the Negev highlands typically receive less than 200 mm of rain a year, and the note now says so. The town’s founding date is not given. [1–3]