The Southern Church – the Southern Church was apparently built over a Nabatean-era ritual building. The prayer hall is in the form of a basilica – a nave, separated from 2 side halls (aisles) by two rows of columns. The nave is paved with marble slabs, while the aisles are paved with limestone. Two square rooms were built alongside the apse, as was customary in the Negev cities of the 4th century. Later, apparently at the beginning of the 6th century, apses with small niches were built in place of these rooms, in which the relics of saints were placed in special reliquaries. To the north of the church a large baptistery was built. Both infants and adults were baptized in baptisteries of this kind, and these would have included some members of the nomadic population wanting to convert to Christianity.
