Sinibaldi (2014:62) reports that rescue excavations by Crystal-M. Bennett at the Amman Citadel between 1975 and 1979 uncovered significant collapse deposits (level III) in Areas B, C, and D. These strata are interpreted as representing the final phase of occupation prior to site-wide abandonment. The associated pottery assemblages were similar across all three areas, suggesting a single destructive event—most likely an earthquake— was responsible. A terminus post quem of 1021 CE was provided by a coin in the stratigraphy. Sinibaldi (2014:62) notes that the destruction may have occurred later, possibly as a result of earthquakes recorded between the 12th and 13th centuries.

According to Sinibaldi (2014:240–241), pottery typologies in level III support a later date. Cooking pots from the collapse layer correspond to 12th-century Beirut-type wares—globular, thin-walled vessels with pulled-up handles and indented bands. One well-preserved example, found as if it had fallen from a cupboard or niche, reinforces the interpretation of a sudden seismic event. The absence of handmade pottery in level III, contrasted with its appearance in later Ayyubid levels (dated by coins to the late 12th–early 13th century), further suggests a temporal break marked by destruction. However, due to the poor definition of 11th-century ceramic sequences in Jordan, a precise date cannot be securely fixed (Sinibaldi, 2014:240–241). Nonetheless, the evidence, according to Sinibaldi (2014), supports the hypothesis that the citadel was heavily damaged by an earthquake sometime between the mid-12th and early 13th centuries.