Chadwick and Maeir (2018) uncovered collapsed walls of what was a then abandoned domestic dwelling in Area F. The brick collapses were consistently inclined northward, "having shifted violently and simultaneously north off their stone foundations." In several instances the lower brick courses remained intact, and in one case "the flat course lines of a wall showed where its second course had sheared cleanly away from its foundation course, lying slanted over a meter north of its original line." They report that consulting engineers Oded Rabinovitch (Technion) and Amos Shiran estimated that approximately 1 g of horizontal acceleration would have been required to displace the walls in this manner. Using the equation of Wald et al. (1999), this level of ground motion corresponds to a local Intensity of approximately IX.
Beneath the collapse was Stratum F9, dated to Iron IIA and attributed to Philistine occupation. Above F9, "two successive debris layers were found: a layer of destruction debris from the attack of Hazael (r. 842–796 BCE)'s Aramean forces, and atop that another layer of eroded brick detritus, winter rain-wash, and wind-blown soils," which "all accumulated as the abandoned houses decayed over several decades." Collapse Layer F8A lay above this detrital accumulation and was sealed by a "much thinner layer of winter rain-wash and wind-blown soil." This was in turn overlain by Judahite construction dated by ceramics to the 8th century BCE, probably "as early as the mid-eighth century B.C.E.," designated Stratum 8 and "discerned across the entire area." Because the Judahite builders buried the F8A "earthquake collapses under new terraces and fills in Area F," the seismic destruction remained stratigraphically secure, allowing the excavators to assign the shaking confidently to the early–middle 8th century BCE.
In addition to the Area F evidence, Chadwick and Maeir (2018) note that "walls collapsed by the earthquake" were also identified "in Area A, on the flatter terrain of Tell es-Safi's lower east side, and in Area D of the northern lower city."
Figure 2 - Section drawing of the low cut section in Area F Square 18C showing Philistine wall W95613 (Stratum F9) and the bricks (106507) which slid northward from the wall and collapsed during the Stratum F8A earthquake. The Philistine destruction debris (105613) and decades of natural erosion (105611) lie beneath the collapse. Above the collapse is the thinner layer of post-earthquake erosion deposits (105608), covered over by the Stratum F8 fill (105604) and surface (105616) held in place by Judahite retaining wall W85204. - click on image to open in a new tab - - Chadwick and Maeir (2018)
