Archaeoseismic evidence for an 8th-century BCE earthquake in the City of David is clearest in Area U, within the earliest phase of Building 17081. The southernmost room (Room 17130) preserved a row of smashed vessels lying along the northern wall, overlain by collapsed stones interpreted as fallen upper wall courses (Uziel and Chalaf, 2021:55*). The fallen stones crushed a varied Iron IIB ceramic assemblage — bowls, lamps, kraters, cooking vessels, holemouth jars, storage jars, and jugs — and also trapped the articulated skeleton of a pig preserved upright among the vessels, indicating sudden death during the collapse (Uziel and Chalaf, 2021:55*). The combination of abrupt wall fall, crushed in-situ vessels, and an unburied animal caught in place strongly suggests a rapid, non-fire destructive episode consistent with seismic damage.

Area E South preserves parallel indications of collapse that appear to reflect the same 8th-century BCE event. In Stratum 12B of the “Terrace House,” one concentration of complete vessels was found in Room 1274, while an adjacent assemblage was specifically described as having fallen from an upper story (De Groot and Bernick-Greenberg, 2012:52). Sherds from these lower rooms refitted with material originating from higher elevations, demonstrating that portions of a second story collapsed into the spaces below. After this destructive episode, the building’s floors were raised by roughly 60 cm of fill, likely a renovation necessitated by structural failure (Uziel and Chalaf, 2021:60–61*). The correspondence between the sudden collapse in Building 17081 and the two-story failure of Stratum 12B reinforces the interpretation of a citywide seismic event during the 8th century BCE.