After the end of Stratum R-3 at Tel Beth-Shean, a modest cultic structure interpreted by the excavators as a temple was built above the earlier piazza in Area R. The building appears to have stood in relative isolation, with few other contemporary features across the mound, suggesting a phase of partial abandonment and contraction in the settlement during Stratum R-2 in Late Bronze I. This Stratum R-2 phase of activity ended with the temple’s disappearance, followed by a brief episode of occupation (Stratum R-2′) before the construction of the later Stratum R-1 town ( Mazar and Mullins 2007:112).

The temple itself exhibits a complex pattern of structural damage and deformation consistent with severe mechanical stress. Its walls were broken, deformed, sheared (?), fractured, and tilted. Debris from the collapse of the upper course of the walls was found in many of the rooms of the temple and there is evidence of significant subsidence throughout the structure with vertical displacements as high as 0.35 m. Some of the subsidence aligns along a N-S axis in what could be described as the major axis of a synclinal feature referred to by the excavators as the oval crater. The Temple was essentially built inside of this oval crater and many of the floors and layers of multiple strata, not just R-2, dip towards the central depression of the synclinal oval crater ( Mazar and Mullins 2007:112-125).

There is also evidence of a fire. Mudbrick debris was found discolored by fire, mixed with charcoal and ash. These signs indicate that the building suffered a violent destructive event involving both mechanical and thermal stress. Repeated structural repairs are attested in several areas, suggesting long-term efforts to stabilize the structure and keep it functional despite continued subsidence and damage. This pattern indicates that movement of the ground beneath the temple was not limited to a single event but rather an ongoing process that affected the building throughout its use-life (Mazar and Mullins 2007:112-125).

The cause of this extensive damage has been debated. The excavators argue that much of the structural deformation — tilting walls, dipping floors, and the sinking of stratified layers — was the result of earthquake activity. In this interpretation, seismic shocks caused the fills of the oval crater beneath the building to compact rapidly, triggering subsidence and destabilizing the temple. They conclude that “a sudden or dramatic sinking of the fills in the oval crater came about due to an earthquake that put an end to the Stratum R-2 temple” (Mullins in Mazar and Mullins 2007:216).

Alternative explanations are also possible. One possibility is that the long-term tilting and sagging of the temple resulted from differential settlement of its foundations over unstable fill. The numerous episodes of repair indicate that subsidence and structural instability were ongoing conditions, not solely the outcome of a single catastrophic event (Mazar and Mullins 2007:117–125, 211–216). It is also possible that both differential settlement and seismic activity contributed to the deformation. Mazar and Mullins (2007:87–88) proposed that the “irregular settling” observed in Middle and Late Bronze Age strata (R-5 to R-2) likely resulted from a combination of differential settlement and repeated seismic events, culminating in a final strong earthquake that caused irreparable structural damage and ultimately led to the abandonment of the site at the end of Stratum R-2.

After its destruction, the temple appears to have been deliberately cleared of most of its contents before being abandoned. Only a small number of diagnostic ceramics were recovered from the fill, including a White Slip II sherd and an Egyptian-style bowl. These finds suggest that the destruction occurred in the first half of the 15th century BCE, during Late Bronze IA. Since Late Bronze IA corresponds to 1550–1400 BCE in the NEAEHL chronological framework favored by Mazar, the destruction event can also be broadly dated to within this 1550–1400 BC range ( Mazar and Mullins 2007:128 and Table 1.1).