Excavations in the Armenian Garden of the Armenian Quarter revealed three Byzantine–Early Islamic phases separated by two episodes of destruction and rebuilding. Zimni-Gitler in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025) reinterpreted Tushingham’s attribution of two “washouts” marking the ends of the Byzantine I and Byzantine II phases, suggesting that these episodes may reflect seismic destruction rather than purely hydrological events.

The first transition, from a small Christian chapel in the Byzantine I phase to a completely reoriented courtyard complex in the Byzantine II phase, indicates a significant break in occupation and use of the site. Rather than representing an undefined “washout,” this transition may reflect rebuilding following an earthquake, plausibly one of the 659/660 CE Jordan Valley earthquakes. Such an interpretation could account for the abrupt abandonment of the chapel and the substantial reorganization that followed.

A second destructive episode may mark the transition from Byzantine II to Byzantine III. The “great washout” terminating the second phase, followed by partial reconstruction and a reduction in courtyard space, resembles patterns of urban reorganization identified elsewhere in Jerusalem by Zimni-Gitler in Lichtenberger and Raja (2025) following the 749 CE Sabbatical Year earthquakes. Burnt plaster and fallen roof tiles sealed beneath the final floor may likewise represent evidence of structural collapse rather than the hydrological erosion proposed by the original excavator.

The revised chronology proposed by Zimni-Gitler (2025) and Magness (1991) extends occupation of the Armenian Garden into the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, challenging Tushingham’s proposed seventh-century abandonment of the site. Within this revised chronological framework, the two “washouts” can plausibly be interpreted as evidence for mid-seventh- and mid-eighth-century seismic destruction rather than flooding or disturbances associated with conquest.