The 2nd Northwest Church Earthquake
Archaeoseismic evidence for a mid-eighth-century CE
earthquake was identified in several areas of
Hippos-Sussita. The most securely dated context derives
from the Northwest Church, where
Mlynarczyk (2008: 256–257)
reported that excavations “yielded a number of invaluable
archaeological deposits securely sealed by the debris of
an earthquake.” This destruction was attributed to one of
the
749 CE Sabbatical Year Earthquakes.
Typical Umayyad-period ceramics and numerous coins
were found sealed within the collapse debris. The latest
coin, discovered on the floor of the northern aisle, was
minted in Tiberias between 737 and 746 CE, establishing a
secure
terminus post quem.
Remains of three victims were also found within the
church, buried beneath the earthquake debris.
Eisenberg and Kowalewska (2025: 159–160)
note that Hippos was completely abandoned after the
mid-eighth-century earthquake, though the settlement
had been declining for some time beforehand and had
already lost its urban character by the time the
earthquake(s) struck.
It is generally assumed that the sub-parallel orientation of
columns found collapsed on the cathedral floor resulted
from the same seismic event.
Yagoda-Biran and Hatzor (2010)
analyzed these overturned columns and estimated a lower
limit of 0.2–0.4 g for PGA
associated with the 749 CE earthquake. Using the
PGA–intensity relationship of
Wald et al. (1999), this range corresponds to an
Intensity of approximately 6.7–7.8. In contrast, analysis
of a myriad of seismic effects using the Earthquake Archaeological Effects chart of
Rodríguez-Pascua et al. (2013:221–224)
suggests a minimum Intensity of VIII (8).
Wechsler et al. (2018)
further noted that Hippos-Sussita appears to be subject to
topographic or ridge amplification, a phenomenon dependent
on seismic-wave frequency and polarization.
Left - Deformation Map