The fortress of En-Erga appears to have been newly built but not yet inhabited when it suffered catastrophic damage from a powerful earthquake that led to its immediate abandonment sometime in the mid-3rd century BCE. The destruction included collapsed and tilted walls, shifted massive stones, and other signs of structural failure. Korzhenkov and Erickson-Gini (2003) dated the destruction from excavation finds. A terminus post quem was provided by a 3rd-century BCE Hellenistic incurved bowl found buried beneath a room’s dirt floor, likely as a Nabataean foundation deposit — a practice observed in Nabataean architecture at Ein Rahel, Mampsis, and Petra. Since the site was abandoned before it was ever occupied, apparently due to the earthquake, the 3rd-century BCE Hellenistic incurved bowl also serves as a terminus ante quem and the earthquake dates to the 3rd-century BCE.