| Heshbon |
possible |
≥ 8 |
Stratum 14 Earthquake (Mitchel, 1980) - 1st century BCE - 2nd century CE -
Mitchel (1980) identified a destruction layer in Stratum 14
which he attributed to an earthquake. Unfortunately, the destruction layer is not precisely dated. Using some assumptions,
Mitchel (1980) dated the
earthquake destruction to the 130 CE Eusebius Mystery Quake,
apparently unaware at the time that this earthquake account may be either
misdated as suggested by Russell (1985) or mislocated as
suggested by Ambraseys (2009).
Although Russell (1985) attributed the destruction layer
in Stratum 14 to the early 2nd century CE Incense Road Quake, a number of
earthquakes are possible candidates including the 31 BCE Josephus Quake.
Mitchel (1980:100)'s 130 CE date for
the causitive earthquake rests on the assumption that the "fills" were deposited soon after bedrock collapse. If one discards this assumption,
numismatic evidence and ceramic evidence suggests that the "fill" was deposited over
a longer period of time - perhaps even 200+ years - and the causitive earthquake was earlier. Unfortunately, it appears that the terminus ante quem
for the bedrock collapse event is not well constrained. The terminus post quem appears to depend on the date for lower levels of Stratum 14 which seems to have
been difficult to date precisely and underlying Stratum 15
which Mitchel (1980:21) characterized as
chronologically difficult. |
