Ancient Nessana: A Pilgrimage Site at the Edge of the Desert

Aerial view of ancient Nessana. On the foreground, the excavations of the pilgrims’ hospice. Photo by Yakov Shmidov and Alex Wiegmann. ©Nessana Expedition

During the Byzantine period, Palestine turned into the religious center of the entire Christianized world, the true “Holy Land”. The local Greek- and Aramaic-speaking population welcomed pilgrims arriving from across the expanding Christian world: Rome, Greece, Constantinople, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Persia, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus. A constantly growing flow of Christians came to see and touch the places of earthen life of Christ and the apostles, to wonder and to pray.  

Although Nessana is not associated with any events mentioned in Scripture and, to the best of our knowledge, did not house significant Christian relics, it became one of the most frequented and populous centers in the Holy Land during the Byzantine period. The prosperity of Nessana in this era is attributed to its strategic location along the route taken by Christian pilgrims traveling from the Holy Land to Mount Sinai. Pilgrimage significantly influenced the settlement, as evidenced by the Nessana papyri, multilingual inscriptions and graffiti, which include Greek, Aramaic, Arabic, Armenian, and Georgian written evidence.  

During the Byzantine period, Nessana served as a crucial stopping point for pilgrims entering the Sinai desert, where caravans were organized and essential services such as guides were provided. This role continued into the Early Islamic period. The scientific challenges associated with the archaeology of pilgrimage are central to the new excavations at Nessana. We aim to investigate the material evidence of sacred journeys, the planning and architectural features of the settlement’s churches and hostels, pilgrims’ graffiti, and the relationship of these findings to written evidence provided by ancient literary sources, papyri, and inscriptions discovered at the site.

The urban, architectural, and functional development of Nessana reflects the long-term impact of pilgrimage on settlement growth and economic organization in the southern frontier of the Holy Land. Recent surveys and excavations, combined with GIS-based spatial analysis, have enabled the reconstruction of the first complete plan of the Byzantine and Early Islamic settlement. Unlike most Negev villages, which expanded organically, Nessana exhibits a pre-planned urban layout, with major arterial streets dividing the lower town into clearly defined quarters. 

Recent excavations show that, with the increase in Christian pilgrimage during the sixth century CE, the settlement, previously located on the acropolis and its immediate surroundings, was expanded to the east and south. The pre-planned southern quarter was established using the street grid system; two of them were partially exposed. The private residences in this densely developed quarter are distinguished by their substantial size, presence of second floors, and expansive courtyards.

Private dwelling in the southern quarter of Nessana. Photo by Assaf Peretz. ©Nessana Expedition

Our search for pilgrimage infrastructure began at the southern margins of the ancient village, where the project team uncovered a large hospice (hospitium). Pilgrimage hospices in the Byzantine period were institutions that provided food, shelter, and medical care for travelers on religious journeys. At Nessana, the large pilgrimage hospice with a modest church and a bathhouse was erected in the mid-sixth century CE. Clearly, it was not the only hospice at Nessana, but the first to be discovered archaeologically.