niedziela, 11 lutego 2018

Israel 4: Shivta - has it changed that much over the last thousand years?

It was almost 11 a.m. and the blinding daylight gave us an idea of how it might be there in the high summer. But we didn’t come to Israel to seek shadow, but adventures, so we got into the car accompanied by our lovely host. She turned out to be a certified guide of the majority of tourist attractions of Israel and she wanted to show us a 2000-year old ancient settlement, or rather a city.
We could not escape the “big politics” though, and right after passing through the gate we faced its local manifestation.




Behind these huge fences, entanglements and a strip of nobody’s land, was Egypt. Israel has nowadays, let’s say, friendly relations with Egypt. Whatever it means in this corner of the world. And how would this border look like if these relations were “less friendly”?
Some politicians, and not only politicians, who criticize the Schengen zone and the European Union should be presented with these photos for breakfast, dinner and supper. Maybe it would provoke some deeper thoughts in them. But I doubt it would actually. 
Dark thoughts were blown away by the desert wind when we reached our destination: the ancient city of Shivta.


We had a breath-taking view already from the parking lot.

If the neighbourhood looked the same in the 1st century BC, then I am not surprised the Nabataeans decided to settle there. 
We started sightseeing from a tiny hotel and restaurant run by a local family (there is no official tourist information here).


One can eat ...

... take rest ...

... and see several ancient artefacts there:



The buildings were erected before the II WW by the expedition led by an American archaeologist Harris D. Colt (associated with the famous gun manufacturer, Samuel Colt). He left an inscription over the door in ancient Greek of the following wording: “With good luck, Colt build (this house) with his own money.” 



Colt was not working alone, obviously. There were many other scientists working in the area since the 70’s of the 19th century. Even Lawrence from Arabia, whose traces we would find in many places during the trip, also worked there. 

The sun was burning deadly when we entered the excavation area. The impression it made on us cannot be conveyed by the photos.





An intense development of that Nabataean settlement, and then a city, started in the 2nd century AD and was based on... agricultural activity. It’s not a joke. In the heart of the desert, in extremely adverse conditions, people grown grapes, figs, olives, legumes and dates. The also bred horses. Our guide mentioned that the rests of these plants were found in the droppings of pigeons in the ruins of pigeon houses. 
Not only these traces suggested the intense agricultural activity. On our way we saw a press for squeezing out the grapes which, according to the estimates of specialists, allowed for the annual industrial production of wine. Iris mentioned several hundred liters, but it’s hard to believe. As hard as to imagine a huge pool in the city centre:



But it indeed was there (actually, two huge pools) to collect water for the city. It also demonstrated how rich the city was at the peak of its development. The rainwater collection and storage systems had to be truly ingenuous, and we are talking about the period between the 2nd and 9th century AD. It made me think about wiping off the water from the surface of my bag and my wet hand. Probably they used all the flat surfaces in the village like roofs and walls and later a clever canal system, the rests of which survived to this day, for collecting every single drop and sending water to the reservoirs. 
The city wasn’t fenced; the buildings on the outskirts were built so that their “backs” constituted the border with the desert. 
The ruins of three churches were excavated, as well as the “governor's house”, houses, stables and utility rooms:











We walked along wide streets:

and stopped from time to time in the shadow of the ruins of walls of the houses and under the arcades:


We also met the last inhabitants of the settlement:

Around 7th century, these territories were conquered by Muslims from Arabia, but I think it did not result in any religious riots. They built a mosque right next to one of the churches which constitutes one of the few traces of the Muslim culture in the city.
In 2015, Shivta was listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO, together with three other Nabataean cities located in the Negev desert, on the incense trail which channeled the transport of perfumes and spices from the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean Sea. On this trail, also ... asphalt from the Dead Sea was transported.

Iris drawn our attention to the volatility of fate of people living in this territory and their adaptation capabilities. 
In the beginning, it was probably a small village, a stop on the route of caravans transporting valuable goods. And because it was “aside” and also because in the meantime new methods of water and land cultivation techniques appeared, the inhabitants of the settlement engaged in agricultural, olive oil and wine production on a big scale. 
For hundreds of years the city bloomed and developed in terms of culture and economy which is evidenced by the city buildings, churches, complicated water collection and distribution systems and presses for wine and olive oil. The city was the host to many pilgrims and allegedly had a monastery. 
But suddenly it fell into decline. It was not damaged nor robbed. More or less in the 9th century AD, it was abandoned by its inhabitants who considered to come back there, as the bricked-up windows may suggest. We will probably never know why it has happened, but according to our guide the reason was... the religion. Under the rule of Muslims, the wine production and hosting pilgrims were not very welcome, let’s say. The inhabitants who lost their main source of profit couldn’t find other occupation in the settlement. Beautiful views could not guarantee them a good life.

When we were leaving the ancient ruins, I thought about other settlement founded two thousand years after the first one, but a dozen kilometres further. 
About the people living there who tear the land from the desert, and water drops from the air. 
About the people dependent on the “big politics” and even so determined to build their houses or hundreds and thousands of fawn tents where they make miracles to grow all that impossible (reasonably thinking) to be grown there or even survive a single day. 
Their brothers from Shivta, maybe of other religion or race, but equally determined, did the same. With other tools and methods, but basically the same. 
I would love to come back to Kadesh Barnea in one thousand years. Maybe another “Iris” would guide some tourists around the ruins. And show them an excavated trampoline which served us a dormitory for two nights, where we stared at the sky and pried not to hear the shots from the left nor from the right.



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