More than 1,500 years ago an Arab people built a Christian church in the Negev desert at the oasis city Mamshit. The Nabataeans, known for Petra and long-distance trade in goods like frankincense, constructed caravanserais, cities and churches along desert routes. Archaeologists conducted pre-dawn excavations near the site, revealing baptismal pools remarkably intact despite harsh heat and sand. A smaller pool served infant baptisms while a larger cross-shaped pool accommodated adult baptisms, reflecting a transition to Christianity beginning in the fourth century A.D. Mamshit has mostly crumbled to its foundations, illustrating long-term change and the impermanence of societies.
You might know of the Nabataean civilization from its fabulous city hewn from sandstone in Petra, Jordan. An Indiana Jones movie was partly filmed there. The ancient Nabataeans were also formidable traders, trekking the deserts of the Arabian and Sinai peninsulas to deliver, among other goods, aromatic frankincense prized for its use in religious ceremonies. To support their long voyages, they built caravanserais, cities and churches like this one along their routes.
So I was surprised at how intact the baptismal pools were, despite the punishing heat and sand of the Negev. The smaller pool was for baptizing babies, the archaeologists explained; the larger, cross-shaped pool for baptizing adults speaking to the transition to Christianity the Nabataeans made, starting in the 4th century A.D. Despite the early-morning sun beating down on my head, I paused for a moment next to the pools. To me, they spoke to the constant change people and societies go through.
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