Blanke (2018) reported that excavation of two residential structures in Trenches 7 and 9 on the Southwest Hill confirmed that the area underwent “a major refurbishment after the earthquake in A.D. 749.”

Blanke in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025:50) notes that Trench 7 contained a pre-earthquake Phase 3 and a post-earthquake Phase 4. The Phase 3 ceramic assemblage included early Islamic transitional wares, such as Umayyad buff ware and a white painted Jerash bowl, suggesting a seventh- or early eighth-century date for Phase 3. The collapse above this phase—comprising lime mortar, terra rossa, and yellow clay lenses rich in organic residue—was “typical for the type of flat rooftops also seen in trenches 1 and 9.” According to Blanke, this rooftop suffered a sudden collapse, likely “associated with the earthquake of 749.” Phase 4, the post-earthquake occupation level, contained a ceramic assemblage rich in Abbasid-period sherds, including a complete cutware / Kerbschnitt lid and an eggshell ware jug.

Trench 9 exposed part of a room abandoned after a devastating conflagration. It had a stamped clay floor, stone walls, and a flat roof supported by wooden beams beneath thick packed clay. The fire burned the beams and caused the roof to collapse, sealing the room’s final occupation. Inside were thousands of carbonized lentils, wheat, barley, and a few figs and dates. The lentils were found in a large pile on a stone platform, likely once stored in a sack that disintegrated during the fire. Blanke in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025:50–52) adds that the sealed deposit in Trench 9 also contained eight nearly intact Abbasid-period vessels, including an oil lamp heavily damaged by the fire. Radiocarbon dating of four wood samples and six grain samples from these burned deposits produced calibrated dates clustering in the late eighth or first half of the ninth century.