At Islamic Ayla, Damgaard (2011), building on Whitcomb’s ceramic chronology and excavations, identified a transition from Umayyad to early Abbasid occupation broadly associated with rebuilding and urban reorganization following the “ 749 CE earthquake”, with many associated horizons dating to the late 8th and early 9th centuries (Damgaard, 2011:59).

In their archaeoseismic survey of the site al-Tarazi and Khorjenkov (2007) identified a host of arcaheoseismic evidence which they attribited to this earthquake which they referred to as the first earthquake. Excavations in 2008 revealed more evidence. Damgaard (2008) documented substantial infilling and leveling in Phase 3 which, "based on its artefactual yield, must be considered Abbasid in date" and "corresponds roughly to Whitcomb’s ‘Phase B’". Damgaard suggested that "this levelling appears to be associated with a period of widespread reconstruction following a significant collapse—most probably due to the 748 CE earthquake". Of particular interest was evidence for the destruction of an east–west wall set perpendicular to a north–south wall (L57/W13). Although only the negative profile survives—identified as a robber trench—and the foundations are absent, a patterned collapse of mud-brick, including a carbonised wooden beam, was discovered on its southern side. Additional support comes from a collapse layer in Tower 2 dated to the mid–8th century (Damgaard, 2011, Appendices:12).