Collapsed Storefronts on Sylvanus Street (lidar image by JW - click image to see in 3D)

Tsafrir and Foerster (1992b) reported on artifacts discovered beneath a destruction layer of earthquake-induced rubble on Sylvanus Street, once an arcaded commercial thoroughfare dating to the Byzantine and Early Arab periods. Among the many artifacts recovered were pottery, glass and metal vessels, balances, jewelry, and coins. These artifacts dated to the mid-8th century CE, with none of the coins minted later than the first half of that century. Of particular importance was a coin hoard discovered in one of the shops. The hoard included 31 gold dinars. The earliest coin dated to A.H. 78 (30 March 697 – 19 March 698 CE) and the latest was minted in A.H. 131 (31 August 748 – 19 August 749 CE). This latest coin provides a terminus post quem for the earthquake and, due to its near-mint condition, likely a terminus ante quem as well.

Tsafrir and Foerster (1997:136) reported that “remains of the collapse were found everywhere in the excavation.” In many places, they noted, “the survivors, or perhaps squatters, returned to the ruined houses and settled on top of the debris,” adding that “no serious effort was made to restore the old buildings, let alone the streets and monuments.” Walmsley (2007) characterized Bet She'an as being “utterly flattened” by the earthquake, “with the still-standing monumental architecture of the Roman and late antique city obliterated by the ferocity of the tremor.” Tsafrir and Foerster (1997:136) further observed that “from the archaeological point of view, it is fairly easy to distinguish between the layers beneath the earthquake debris and the new buildings above it.” The destructive event “occurred in the last year of the rule of the Umayyad dynasty, providing a convenient distinction between the medieval, Abbasid, and Fatimid strata above the earthquake debris and the Byzantine and early Islamic strata beneath it.”