Hisham's Palace was initially constructed in the 1st half of the 8th century CE, likely between 724 and 743 CE. Whitcomb (1988:63) suggested an initial destruction affected Hisham's Palace after which occupation continued.

He noted that presence of Period 1 [ca. 750-800 CE] ​ceramics on or near to the floor, "amid destruction debris, fallen columns, and stone elements" which "tended to occupy a stratum of about 40 cm" thickness. Whitcomb (1988:63) also noted that "lying on the various floors were materials that [the original excavator] Baramki took as evidence for interrupted and unfinished construction: plaster and marble screen production, stacked roof tiles, and window glass". The "floors were either not laid or showed little or no wear on the limestone (see Baramki 1937: 167, for a summary of this evidence)". Whitcomb noticed that "the evidence from the drawn sherds indicates at least two-thirds of the excavated locations had substantial Period 1 [ca. 750-800 CE] artifacts on or near the floor, perhaps twice the occupation Baramki recognized." Whitcomb (1988:64) further reports that "the deposits of Period 1 may have begun in the 740s but continued uninterrupted for the remainder of that century."

Alfonsi et al. (2013) distinguished this earlier destruction from the later, catastrophic collapse that they attributed to the 1033/4 CE earthquake(s). Accepting Whitcomb (1988)'s interpretation of continued occupation through about 1000 CE, they concluded that the earlier destruction was relatively limited, assigning it an estimated intensity of VII, in contrast to the later IX–X intensity destruction that led to major site abandonment or contraction.