This first cent BC built Nabatean city has been declared as an UNESCO world heritage center in 2005. Although, Mamshit is small (ten acres), it is the only walled and best preserved Nabatean city discovered so far. The biggest treasure ever found in Israel (10500 silver coins) was excavated by archaeologists from Mamshit. After Nabateans, Romans and later Byzantine Christians occupied the city. The strong christian influence is evident from the two churches discovered with their beautiful mosaics. Interestingly, Israel's father of nation, David Ben Gurion dreamt of making Mamshit as the future capital city of modern Israel! The residents of Mamshit bred the renowned Arabian horses, which brought great wealth to their city. You can still see remains of those ancient stables today! See for Nabateans in my earlier posts for Shivta and Avadat.
http://lajupaulk.blogspot.com/2008/05/visit-to-shivta-nationa-park-29-may.html.
Mamshit is 45 km from Beer Sheva. I took the Egged Express 394 from Beer Sheva to Mamshit at 11.05 and reached there in half an hour. The bus went through Dimona, the city famous for Israel's Nuclear Program and one of the major center of Indian Jews. From the bus stop there is around 2 km walk to the archaeological site. While returning, I got lift from a Bedouin guy working here. He dropped me at Dimona (8 km from Mamshit) and from there I got a Sherut (Shared Taxi) to Beer Sheva. Back to campus by 4 pm.....
More details soon...
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Visting the Ancient (1st cent BC to 2nd cent AD) Nabatean City of Mamshit/Kurnub (24 October, 2008).
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