The Archaeological Site Nitzana

Nessana, Modern Hebrew name Nizzana, also spelled Nitzana, is an ancient Nabataean city located in the southwest Negev desert in Israel close to the Egyptian border [1]. It started by being a caravan station on the ancient Incense Road, protecting a western branch of the road which allowed access to Egypt to the west via the Sinai, and to Beersheba [1]. During excavations in 1935–37, a major trove of sixth- and seventh-century papyri in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Nabataean, and Syriac was discovered at this site, revealing a wealth of information about day-to-day life in Nabataean society between 505 and 689 CE [1]. Onomastics show that the largely Nabataean inhabitants of the city had become Christianized and Romanized in the early centuries CE [1].