Editing Shivta (section)

==Excavation history==
[[Ulrich Jasper Seetzen]] was the first [[West]]erner to visit the site when he arrived in 1805, but he misidentified it as Abde (Avdat).<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 1</ref> [[Edward Henry Palmer]] came in 1870 and the following year he published the first official description,<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 2</ref> while [[Alois Musil]]'s 1901 visit resulted in the publication of the first photos of the ruins.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 4</ref> A team from the [[École Biblique]] in Jerusalem including famed researchers [[Antonin Jaussen]], [[Raphaël Savignac]] and [[Louis-Hugues Vincent]] studied a few aspects of the site in 1904, Theodor Kühtreiber added a few observations in 1912.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 5</ref> The first scientific study covering agricultural and social aspects came as a result of a survey by [[Charles Leonard Woolley|C. L. Woolley]] and [[T. E. Lawrence]] (the future "Lawrence of Arabia"), taken on behalf of the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]] (PEF) in 1914.<ref>Röhl (2010), pp. 6ff.</ref> During the [[World War I|Great War]], a German team of researchers ([[Theodor Wiegand]], [[Carl Watzinger]] and Walter Bachmann), part of the {{ill|Deutsch-Türkisches Denkmalschutzkommando|de}} ("German-Turkish Command for Cultural Heritage Protection"), studied the site in 1916.<ref>Röhl (2010), pp. 11ff.</ref> The École Biblique returned in 1926 with a team under Raphaël Tonneau, and in 1929 with Alexis Mallon.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 14</ref>

In 1933–38, American archaeologist Harris Dunscombe Colt conducted a dig at Shivta. The house he lived in bears an inscription in ancient Greek that reads: "With good luck. Colt built (this house) with his own money."<ref name="parks"/><ref>Röhl (2010), pp. 14-15</ref> Colt never published the result of his excavations, which also represent the only large-scale archaeological campaigns executed at the site.<ref>Röhl (2010), pp. 14-15</ref> Much of the archaeological information is lost for good, not least due to a fire on 7 October 1938 at the expedition house that consumed all the collected architectural decoration and dig notes.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 15. See also the <span class="plainlinks">[https://www.iaa-archives.org.il/zoom/zoom.aspx?folder_id=2282&type_id=&id=31543''letter to Colt''] </span> describing the damage.</ref>

Updates from 2018:
:In January 1938, a suitcase, which contained artifacts, documents, and photographs from the archaeological excavations at Shivta, was forgotten at the Haifa port. The suitcase belonged to Harris Dunscombe Colt (1901—1973), the excavator of Shivta. Colt never came to claim the forgotten suitcase, nor was it ever sent to him. The suitcase was eventually shipped to Jerusalem and its contents were never studied or published. <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mushecht.haifa.ac.il/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=638:the-forgotten-suitcase&catid=214&Itemid=178&lang=en|title=The Forgotten Suitcase}}</ref>
:The artifacts, which consist of small items like jewelry, door hinges, nails, pieces of glass, objects made from bone, ivory and wood, and shards of pottery inscribed with Arabic and Greek writing, are now on display at the [[Hecht Museum]] at the University of Haifa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/64798-lost-artifacts-shivta.html|title = Customs Letter About a Long-Lost Suitcase Leads to Artifacts from Desert with Early 'Jesus' Painting| website=[[Live Science]] |date = 19 February 2019}}</ref>

In the late 1940s, [[Bellarmino Bagatti]] continued work at the northern church,<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 15</ref> and in the 1950s [[Nelson Glueck]] researched Shivta's ecology.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 16</ref> Between 1958-1960, [[Michael Avi-Yonah]] and made the site accessible, in the process also clearing the central church of debris.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 16</ref>

In the 1960s, botanist [[Michael Evenari]] studied the economy of Shivta and water collection in its arid environment, his methods of [[experimental archaeology]] offering important insights into [[subsistence farming]] in the Negev desert.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 16</ref>

Between 1970-1976, Avraham Negev led various surveys,<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 16</ref> others following with a number of small digs, theoretical studies and mapping efforts.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 17</ref> A 2000-2001 in-depth study of Shivta's water systems, based on surveys and analysis, was the work of Tsvika Tsuk.<ref>Röhl (2010), p. 18</ref>