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Migowski Quake II

~175 AD

by Jefferson Williams









Introduction & Summary

Migowski et. al. (2004) assigned a 0.66 cm. thick seismite from the 1997 GFZ/GSI En Gedi core to a date of ~175 CE. A seismic event was also observed in trenches near Bet Zayda whose modeled ages also suggest an earthquake around 175 CE. There are no known historically reported earthquake in Judea around 175 CE.

Textual Evidence

Although the historical sources are silent about this possible earthquake, it should be noted that the historical sources are generally silent about all earthquakes in the southern Levant in the 2nd century CE. We do not have a source like Josephus for this time frame.

Archaeoseismic Evidence

Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
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.
Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
Heshbon



Paleoseismic Evidence

Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
Bet Zayda possible ≥ 7 Migowski Quake II is a good fit for Event CH4-E5 - modeled age 137-206 CE. (Wechsler at al., 2014)
Dead Sea - Seismite Types n/a n/a n/a
En Gedi possible 7.9-8.8 Migowski et. al. (2004) assigned a 0.66 cm. thick Type 4 seismite at a depth of 255 cm. (2.55 m) to a date of ~175 CE.
Location (with hotlink) Status Intensity Notes
Bet Zayda (aka Beteiha)

Migowski Quake II is a good fit for Event CH4-E5 - modeled age 137-206 CE. (Wechsler at al., 2014)



Dead Sea - Seismite Types



Dead Sea - En Gedi

Migowski et. al. (2004) assigned a 0.66 cm. thick Type 4 seismite at a depth of 255 cm. (2.55 m) to a date of ~175 CE.



Notes

Paleoclimate - Droughts

References