Blanke (2018) reported that partial excavation of two residential structures in the Southwest Hill (Trenches 7 and 9) confirmed that the area underwent “a major refurbishment after the earthquake in A.D. 749.” Trench 7 yielded “large quantities of ceramics dating to the Abbasid period,” while Trench 9 revealed “a section of a room that went out of use after a devastating conflagration.” This room had a stamped clay floor, stone walls, and a flat roof supported by wooden beams beneath a thick layer of packed clay. The fire “caused the beams to burn and the roof to collapse,” sealing the room’s final occupation. Sealed inside were “thousands of carbonized lentils, wheat, barley, and a few figs and dates,” the lentils were found “in a large pile on top of a stone platform,” likely once held in a sack that disintegrated in the fire.

The grains and fruit were also found “in and around a ceramic vessel that was crushed by the weight of the collapsed roof.” This vessel, along with “a severely damaged oil lamp,” was identified as “clearly Abbasid in date.” Blanke noted that analysis and dating of the carbonized contents were ongoing.

Blanke et al. (2024:100) further report that excavation of Trench 1 in 2015 exposed part of a room within a housing complex that had collapsed in “a sudden catastrophic event—possibly an earthquake—which sealed the room below 1.5 m of wall tumble.” The associated ceramic assemblage was “mainly Late Antique (including Umayyad) and Abbasid in date (Pappalardo 2019).” The authors concluded that the room was either newly constructed or extensively renovated after “the earthquake in the middle of the 8th century AD.”

However, the sealed presence of Abbasid pottery in both Trenches 1 and 9 suggests that the destructive event post-dated the 749 CE Sabbatical Year Earthquakes, since the Abbasid Caliphate began only in 750 CE.