Netzer et al. (2001:159–160) report that the Synagogue Complex at Tulul Abu al-‘Alayiq was “probably destroyed during the earthquake of 31 B.C.E., or slightly later, as a deliberate act,” after which its remains were “covered by a layer of mud-brick debris.” They further note that, in the Herodian period around 25 B.C.E., the northeastern corner of the Main Wing of Herod’s Second Palace was constructed directly above the western part of the synagogue hall. At the hall’s entrance, Netzer et al. (2001:165–177 n. 15) uncovered shifted ashlar blocks and subsidence, indicating structural disturbance.

A Herodian terminus ante quem is established by both the Herodian construction built above the synagogue complex and by Silo A(H) 608, which was dug into the mudbrick debris layer and contained pottery, glass, and stone vessels dating to the Herodian period ( Netzer et al., 2001:182–184).

Although damage could have occurred during the political turmoil of the 1st century BCE, the historical record does not indicate that Jericho experienced military destruction in 63 BCE when Pompey advanced into the region. As Josephus relates ( Antiquities Book XIV Chapter 4 Paragraph 1, War Book1 Chapter 6 Paragraph 6), Pompey merely camped at Jericho before proceeding toward Jerusalem, with no mention of assault, conquest, or destruction at Jericho.

Josephus’s accounts of Herod's rise to power describe limited military activity in the Jericho region. In 39 BCE Herod moved against Antigonus II Mattathias, the last king of the Hasmonean dynasty, but the activity Josephus describes concerns skirmishing in the hills, the seizure and dismissal of a small group who had taken refuge on the mountain tops, and Roman plundering of houses in an otherwise deserted city—events that do not resemble a destructive assault on Jericho’s built environment and would not likely have caused extensive structural damage to the synagogue complex ( War Book I Chapter 15 Paragraph 6; Antiquities Book IV Chapter 15 Paragraph 3).

Roller (1998) accordingly observes that the earlier Hasmonean palace complex at Jericho was still functioning into the 30s BCE, as demonstrated by the well-known episode of the drowning of Aristobulus III in 36 BCE. This continuity strongly suggests that no major military destruction occurred at Jericho in the decades immediately preceding the 31 BCE earthquake.

While Jericho did witness episodes of violence under Herod, such as political purges, the execution of Aristobulus III, and later unrest following Herod’s death in 4 BCE, these events do not resemble large-scale military assault and would have produced, at most, localized or targeted demolition rather than widespread structural ruin. Taken together, Josephus’s narratives point to a relatively undamaged Jericho through the mid-1st century BCE, making a pre-31 BCE destruction horizon from warfare historically unlikely, and strengthening the case that significant damage observed archaeologically is better attributed to the 31 BCE earthquake.