In excavations around the Greek Orthodox Church, Vasilios Tzaferis in Stern et al. (1993) stated that Stratum IV in Area A was “apparently destroyed in the earthquake that struck the region in 746 CE [JW: i.e., the 749 CE Holy Desert Quake of the Sabbatical Year Sequence]" as evidenced by "the great quantity of huge stones in the piles of debris and by the ash covering the stratum throughout the area [Area A].” Magness (1997), however, revised this chronology, placing the end of Stratum IV in the second half of the 9th century CE rather than the mid-8th century. This reinterpretation was based largely on ceramic comparisons with assemblages from Pella. In her revised site sequence, Stratum V ended around 750 CE. Magness noted that “it is difficult to ascertain what brought this stratum [V] to an end, though the publication [excavation report of Tzaferis] does not provide explicit evidence for earthquake destruction.”