Priests Buried in a Byzantine Baptistery at Shivta

A baptistery is where a Byzantine church welcomed the living. In one church in Israel’s Negev Desert, it also became a place to bury the dead. For decades the original layout of those graves was lost. Then two old photographs, taken about 90 years ago and left unpublished in an archive, put the tombstones back where they once lay. What do they say about who was allowed to rest there?

A Church in the Desert

The site is Shivta, in the Negev. Its North Church is the largest of the town’s three monumental churches. Its baptistery held a cross-shaped baptismal font, and a painting of Christ’s baptism decorated the apse above it. By the early seventh century, researchers say, the baptistery had also become a burial place for prominent families, mostly priests and young members of influential families.

That is unusual. The researchers know of no comparable use of a baptistery as a burial chapel in the Negev or Palestine, although similar arrangements existed elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

Two Photographs From 1933 and 1934

The key evidence comes from the archives of University College London. Two previously unpublished photographs, taken during H. D. Colt’s excavations in 1933 and 1934, show the original arrangement of the tombstones. Using them, the researchers identified the original positions of three of the seven graves.

Nine People, Six Priests

The seven graves held nine individuals who died between AD 612 and 679. Six were priests, and one of them was also a monk. Among them was Abraham, a child who died in AD 612 and whose father, John, held the title vicarius. Another burial belongs to the priest Stephanos, who died on December 17, AD 636. His tombstone carries a Golgotha Cross. The last known burial dates to AD 679.

Where people lay seems to reflect rank. Priests and privileged family members rested in the baptistery, while other influential residents were buried in the entrance hall and courtyard.

Three people linked to the church died on November 5, 8, and 11 in AD 643. The researchers suggest a local outbreak of the Plague of Justinian may explain this, but the inscriptions give no direct evidence of the cause.

Source

Emma Maayan-Fanar (University of Haifa) and Yotam Tepper (Israel Antiquities Authority), “Old Photographs, New Discoveries: Privileged Burials in the North Church Baptismal Chapel in Shivta, Israel,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly, 2026, pp. 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/00310328.2026.2716943. The details above follow Arkeonews coverage of the study (October 10, 2026) and were not checked against the full paper text.