Constanze Röhl *
ABSTRACT
The Byzantine settlement of Shivta is located in the central Negev Desert within the context of the contemporary settlements of Rehovot, Mampsis, Eboda, Nitzana, Elusa and Horvat Sa’adon, ca. 43 km southwest of the modern city of Beersheba. At the latest during the course of the 6th century, the settlement underwent modifications of differing levels due to the building of three clerical complexes; the ‘Southern’, ‘Central’ and
‘Northern’ church, two of which became incorporated into former domestic dwellings and one being part of a supposed monastic complex. The churches of Shivta might very well, apart from their implications concerning religious changes, have provided a further economic factor due to an increased influx of pilgrims who crossed the region on their way to Sinai. Even though the churches of the Negev Desert show some definite traits that are characteristic exclusively to the region, the rather abrupt appearance of a larger number of clerical buildings within one small settlement itself must be seen as part of a phenomenon within the wider context of the Eastern Mediterranean. This paper presents the churches of Shivta and tries to reconstruct aspects of society and economy by analysing their positioning within the settlement as well as the surrounding landscape. It is part of an ongoing project to analyse the settlement of Shivta in a supra-regional context via the Space Syntax Method. This Method is a set of techniques used in contemporary city planning for analysing settlements as networks of space formed by the placing, grouping, and orientation of buildings; and observing how these networks of space relate to functional patterns like movement, land use, area differentiation, etc. Furthermore, based on these empirical observations, it is possible to assess how urban space networks relate in general to the social, economic and cognitive factors that shape them.
Keywords: Space Syntax Analysis, Byzantine settlement, Byzantine agriculture, Byzantine churches.
* Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz, Germany
in: Bis-Worch, C. – Theune, C. (eds.) 2017: Religion, cults & rituals in the medieval rural environment, Ruralia XI, Sidestone Press (Leiden), pp. 115-128.
116 religion, cults & rituals in the medieval rural environment ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Die Kirchen der byzantinischen Siedlung Shivta in der Negev-Wüste: Eine Space Syntax Analyse zur Positionierung der sakralen Bauten innerhalb der Siedlung und zur Entwicklung eines Szenario der Sozialstruktur
Die ländliche Siedlung Shivta liegt in der zentralen Negev-Wüste im Umfeld der byzantinischen Orte Ruheibeh, Mamshit, Eboda, Nessana, Elusa und Saadi, etwa 43 km südwestlich des modernen Beersheba. Spätestens im 6. Jh.
sah der Ort strukturelle Änderungen unterschiedlicher Tragweite: Zwei Kirchen, eine im südlichen sowie eine weitere im zentralen Bereich wurden in bereits bestehende Gebäude inkorporiert, eine weitere Anlage entstand vermutlich als Kloster im Nordosten. Diese Entwicklung könnte unabhängig von ihrem religiösen Aspekt zu einer wachsenden wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung der Sinai-Pilger für die sonst stark auf die Landwirtschaft ausgerichtete Siedlung geführt haben. Obgleich die Sakralbauten der Negev-Wüste ausgeprägte regionale Charakteristika aufweisen, muss das abrupt erscheinende Auftreten einer verhältnismäßig hohen Anzahl christlicher kultischer Bauten innerhalb einer Siedlung als Ausdruck eines weiter verbreiteten Phänomens im östlichen Mittelmeerraum betrachtet werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag stellt, basierend auf der Positionierung der Bauten innerhalb des Siedlungskontextes sowie der umgebenden Landschaft, als Teilanalyse einer überregionalen Studie, ein mögliches Szenario der Sozialstrukturen und sozio-ökonomischen Gegebenheiten mittels der Space Syntax Analyse vor. Diese Methode wurde aus den Anforderungen zeitgenössischer Städteplanungen entwickelt. Sie analysiert Siedlungen als räumliche Netzwerke, welche durch die Anordnung, Gruppierung und Orientierung von Gebäuden gebildet werden. Diese Netzwerke wiederum werden hinsichtlich ihres Bezuges zu funktionalen Aspekten wie Bewegungsmustern, Landnutzung und Raumnutzung ausgewertet. Auf dieser Basis kann untersucht werden, wie urbane räumliche Netzwerke mit sozialen, ökonomischen und kognitiven Faktoren zusammenhängen.
Schlagwörter: Space Syntax Analyse, byzantinische Siedlung, byzantinische Landwirtschaft, byzantinischer Kirchenbau.
RÉSUMÉ
Les églises du village byzantine de Shivta au Désert du Néguev : Une analyse par « Space Syntax » concernant leur arrangement et les implications sociales
Le village byzantin de Shivta est situé dans le centre du Désert du Néguev près des villages contemporains de Rehovot, Mampsis, Eboda, Nitzana, Elusa et Horvat Sa’adon, à environ 43 km au sud-ouest de la ville moderne de Beersheba. Au plus tard durant le VIème siècle, le village est l’objet de modifications plus ou moins importantes liées à la construction de trois complexes cléricaux ; les églises « sud », « centre » et « nord », dont les deux premières sont intégrées à des bâtiments déjà existants et la troisième à un supposé complexe monastique au nord-est.
Le développement de l’agglomération, parallèlement aux aspects religieux, est aussi lié à son rôle économique et agricole en relation avec l’accroissement de l’afflux de pèlerins traversant la région lors de leur parcours vers le Sinaï. Même si les édifices religieux du Désert du Néguev montrent des traits caractéristiques de la région, la rapide construction d’un nombre relativement élevé de lieux de culte chrétiens dans une petite implantation rurale doit être interprétée dans le contexte plus large de la Méditerranée orientale. En se basant sur la position des églises dans le village de Shivta ainsi que dans le paysage environnant, cet article tente de présenter un scénario des structures sociales et des réalités socio-économiques. Cette étude fait partie d’un projet en cours dont le but est d’analyser le village de Shivta dans un contexte supra-régional par la Space Syntax Method (méthode de syntaxe spatiale). Cette méthode est utilisée dans l’urbanisme contemporain, analysant les sites urbains comme réseaux d’espace, formées par le placement, le groupement et l’orientation des bâtiments.
Elle permet d’observer la relation de ces réseaux avec des aspects fonctionnels comme par exemple le mouvement, l’occupation du sol, l’occupation des différents espaces etc. Se fondant sur ces observations, il est possible de déterminer les relations des réseaux d’espace urbains avec les facteurs sociaux, économiques et cognitifs.
Mots-clés : méthode de syntaxe spatiale, village byzantin, agriculture byzantine, églises byzantines.
Introduction
The Byzantine settlement of Shivta, known to scholars since the late 19th century, is situated at about 43 km to the southwest of the modern city of Beersheba in the arid northern hilly region of the Central Negev Desert at 340 m above sea level in the Nahal Lavan; in the context of a strongly frequented route system in the hinterland of ‘Incense and Spice Route’, Via Maris and ‘King’s Highway’ (Fig. 1).
Shivta might have come into existence during the 4th century, as indicated by undocumented excavations during the 1930s (in fact, it seems that the documentation got lost during the Arab Revolt) and continued to exist in some form until the 8th/9th century (Moor 2013); contemporary to the settlements of Rehovot, Mampsis, Eboda, Nitzana, Elusa and Horvat Sa’adon which can be located within a maximum radius of 40 km from Shivta. Each of the
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Negev settlements has its very own unique characteristics concerning architecture and layout, and presumably also concerning its economy. The only common denominators are the regional and chronological aspects.
The complexity of the architecture present at Shivta implies a multifaceted society. This idea is further propagated by the presence of various agricultural installations in its vicinity. In particular in an arid region with limited access to water, but also in regard to the presence of nomadic groups in the Negev Desert, access to and use of resources must have been coordinated via highly differentiated regulations. By means of applying the Space Syntax Method, a technique used in contemporary city planning, an attempt will be undertaken to reconstruct a potential scenario of the society present at Shivta.
The Space Syntax Method is a set of techniques used in contemporary city planning for analysing settlements as networks of space formed by the placing, grouping, and orientation of buildings. Observing how these networks of space relate to functional patterns like movement, land use, area differentiation etc., it is possible to assess how urban space networks relate in general to the social, economic and cognitive factors that shape them. The topic addressed in the following deals with three main questions. Does the analysis of spatial properties and patterns of movement relating to the three churches in the
settlement indicate different groups of users? If so, how might these relate to the architecture of Shivta in general?
Which further conclusions regarding the settlements’
society might this imply?
The settlement of Shivta
According to a survey conducted in 2009 (Röhl 2011), Shivta comprises 75 domestic dwellings, 29 service buildings, two buildings of a potential administrative function and three churches, one of these part of a supposed monastic complex within an area of 113.100 m2 (Fig. 2). They all were built using the three different varieties of limestone local to the region and featuring a quite unique type of building ornamentation.
Dealing with the settlement’s youngest phase during the Byzantine era, as later alterations can widely be excluded as non-existent, the domestic architecture can be categorized in groups based on repetitive features. In order to start from a neutral point of analysis and contrary to typological approaches, neither a unified societal consensus concerning the legitimisation of building types;
nor a hierarchical development from simple to complex on the basis of supposed vertical societal structures is being assumed. Each building was the result of complex social, historical and environmental preconditions.
Fig. 1. Negev Desert in antiquity (© Rainer Schreg).
118 religion, cults & rituals in the medieval rural environment Fig. 2. Shivta: complete map of settlement (© Constanze Röhl).
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Based on the classification established by Yizhar Hirschfeld for Roman-Byzantine domestic dwellings (Hirschfeld 1995), the three basic structural types of
‘Simple House’, ‘Complex House’ and ‘Courtyard House’
can be discerned; leaving aside the multitude of variants present at Shivta for the purpose of this study. The ‘Simple House’ consists of at least one room behind or in front of an open courtyard area. It can also feature rooms on two sides of the courtyard or a tower. The ‘Complex House’
consists of rooms on three or more sides of a courtyard. It proves often to be an organically grown expansion of the
‘Simple House’.
The ‘Courtyard House’ features a layout with rooms on four sides of the courtyard.
As there are no permanent sources of water in the region, and the groundwater is very brackish, a sophisticated system of cisterns, reservoirs and channels to collect rainwater allowed the permanent habitation of the site all year round.
Even though often postulated, there is no evidence for a Roman or Nabatean origin of the settlement; still it must be noted, that its two central water reservoirs are thought to date before the Byzantine period (Erickson-Gini 2012). Shivta was partially excavated during the 1930s by the Colt Expedition (Segal 1983), but neither
finds nor documentation survived; the question of its exact chronology is further complicated and at this point has to remain open. OSL dates provide evidence for the use of agricultural structures in the vicinity from the 3rd until the 11th century AD (Avni et al. 2013).
The churches of Shivta were the subject of a PhD thesis by Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom in 1982 stating that, in general, the churches of the Negev Desert do not differ markedly from those in other regions (Rosenthal-Heginbottom 1982). The typical layout is that of a three-naved basilica oriented to the east with three portals in the West and a tripartite eastern part, which can either feature one apse with adjoining rooms on both sides or three apses. Further entrances in the side walls are possible. Inside, rows of pillars divide the naves, slightly elevated sanctuaries can be found either in the central aisle or in all three.
Altar, synthronon (the place for the assembly of the clergy, situated in the apse of a church) and ambo constitute the main furnishings. Mosaics, marble incrustations, frescoes and sculptured building elements, none of which in the case of Shivta remain in situ as they were completely dismantled in the 1930s by the Colt Expedition, are common means of ornamentation. Mosaics, marble incrustations,
Fig. 3. Shivta: aerial view of ‘South Church‘ with adjoining reservoirs from northwest (© Itamar Grinberg).
120 religion, cults & rituals in the medieval rural environment frescoes and sculptured building elements are common
means of ornamentation. In the case of Shivta, none of these remained in situ as they were completely dismantled in the 1930s by the Colt Expedition. The central nave was presumably covered by a saddle roof, the sides with pitched roofs. There is also no obvious microregional differentiation which, in combination with the lack of absolute dates, provides a difficulty concerning the chronology. Therefore, the churches of Shivta can only roughly be classified as belonging
to the latest phase in the development of religious buildings in the region, albeit with reservation as modifications cannot be excluded.
The dimensions of the ‘South Church’ (Fig. 3), excavated by the Colt Expedition, are 23,35 x 17,30 m. The main entrance is in the west via a vestibule.
The building is divided into seven bays by a row of six columns and two pilasters on each side. Its three apses are not on the same axis, so that the southern wall is slightly tilted to the south. The lateral apses have niches with
Fig. 4. Shivta: aerial view of
‘Middle Church‘ from northwest (© Itamar Grinberg).
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semi-domes designed to hold reliquaries and frescoes.
The topics of the latter cannot be specified today. To the north of the church is a baptisterium with a monolithic cruciform baptismal font and a chapel. An inscription dates the floor in the southern nave to the year 640 AD.
Another inscription on a door lintel suggests a potential date in the 5th century for the construction of the building. The church was incorporated into an already existing building, possibly a towered farmstead. A proposed interpretation as potential headquarters of the clerical administration with an adjoining guest house (Rosenthal-Heginbottom 1982) is debatable as it lacks any further evidence. In the 9th century, a mosque was built in the northern part of the complex.
The ‘Middle Church’ (Fig. 4) was incorporated into an existing towered courtyard building, wrongly and misleadingly called the ‘Governor’s House’. Its dimensions are 22.37 x 15.60 m. The main entrance is in the west via a monumental porch. The building is divided into five bays by a row of four columns and two pilasters on each side. Its annex buildings have not been investigated further. An inscription, possibly dedicated by a pilgrim, mentions Saint Stephanos.
The complex of the ‘North Church’ (Fig. 5) is the only one to show regular dimensions of around 20 x 13 m. The
main entrance is via an open space south to the atrium.
The building is divided into seven bays by a row of six columns and two pilasters on each side. The lateral apses have niches with semi-domes designed to hold reliquaries and frescoes. In the case of the northern apse, a sarcophagus reliquary is being proposed. As it is also the case in the
‘South Church’, rooms above the lateral apses constitute a special case of architectural layout. The atrium is 26 x 19 m wide. In its centre stands a column drum within a square of 2,0 x 2,0 m. The supposed identification as the place of worship of a stylite is doubtful. There is a chance of this feature being a later addition from the 1950/60s as during this time reconstruction work took place. To the south of the church lies a chapel which, according to an inscription, was dedicated in 607 AD. The outer wall of the whole complex was massively reinforced at an unknown date during the Byzantine era. The block to the south, which again had been excavated by the Colt Expedition, is being interpreted as a monastery. The existence of a separate entrance to the church speaks in favour of this, even though the idea that parts of the complex served different purposes should not be dismissed.
22 stelae testify to the burials of members of the clerical community as well as lay people from 505 to 679 AD in the area of the ‘North Church’. From these
Fig. 5. Shivta: aerial view of ‘North Church‘ with adjoining monastical complex from northwest (© Itamar Grinberg).
122 religion, cults & rituals in the medieval rural environment inscriptions, six presbyters, a vicar and a monk are known
for the 7th century. Further mentioning is made of the bishop of Elusa, to whose parish Shivta belonged.
In conclusion, the Northern Church is laid out quite differently to the South and ‘Middle Church’. Unrestricted by the presence of older buildings, the Northern Church shows the characteristics of a well-planned small site of pilgrimage, possibly with the addition of an organically grown monastic complex to the south.
It is not known who initiated the building process or who carried it out. It should be remarked that the building ornamentation, which so far has always been considered unique to the Negev Desert has unpublished parallels in Umm er-Rasas close to Madaba. Therefore it is safe to assume that some sort of supra-regional contact concerning architectural concepts took place during the Byzantine era. This might for example have been the case via travelling craftsmen carrying out the building of the churches, with their ornamental canon then being incorporated into the local one and copied as stylistic features of the domestic dwellings.
Space Syntax Analysis
Space Syntax is a method that can be applied to settlements (Alpha analysis) as well as single buildings (Gamma analysis) in order to analyse spatial layouts, and was devised in 1972 at the University College London (Bartlett Space Syntax Laboratory) by Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson, who by then filled a theoretical and methodological gap with their ground-breaking publication ‘The social logic of space’ (Hillier – Hanson 1984).
40 years of continuous application and improvement as a method to represent, simulate, analyse and compare spatial layouts and their respective social impact, leave a wide range of possibilities to apply Space Syntax Analysis as an empirical method for contemporary settlements respectively city planning. Space Syntax Analysis has also been used in archaeological and ethnographical contexts, but never achieved a use as widespread as within contemporary settings.
By quantifying potential patterns of movement it is possible to make statistically sound assumptions as to the accessibility of specific areas within a settlement, set up a hierarchy of use for rooms within a building, spot safe and unsafe regions or parts of a building equivalent to low and high permeability in urban planning, calculate traffic and potential paths of movement of outsiders within a settlement etc.
By analysing the visibility of certain buildings or parts of buildings within the general field of vision, it is possible not only to relate to the social relevance of single buildings; but also to other, rather more abstract aspects like for example the modern term of ‘privacy’ within an archaeological context.
These observations are based on the notion that space has intrinsic properties, dealing with the visible aspects of how spatial units relate to one another. Intrinsic properties can be derived from assessments of geometric properties of
These observations are based on the notion that space has intrinsic properties, dealing with the visible aspects of how spatial units relate to one another. Intrinsic properties can be derived from assessments of geometric properties of