Only in two restricted areas, both outside the building, have the original floors been reached, and until more evidence
is forthcoming the date of its construction must remain uncertain. But from the secondary surfaces within the building,
some of them laid down after the partial destruction of the interior walls, a series of coins gives a firm date for the
latest occupation of the structure. Of eight coins so far studied, two are of
Malichus II and
Shaqilath II
(c. A.D. 40-71), five are of
Rabbel II and
Gamilath (A.D. 71-106, but late in the period, since Gamilath is
Rabbel's second consort),
and one is of
Rabbel
with either
Shaqilath or Gamilath, this being uncertain. The significance of these coins is
increased when it is noted that four of Rabbel II and Gamilath come from the same layer of make-up
beneath one of the secondary floors. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the building was in use at
the end of the 1st century A.D., and probably right up until the Roman conquest of A.D. 106,
though the apparent lack of Roman Imperial coins suggests that it soon feel out of use then.
Judging from the fact that the secondary surfaces from which the coins come in some cases seal the first destruction
levels of the building, a date in the first half of the 1st century A.D. for its construction is not,
perhaps, unlikely. An earlier date than this for the rebuilding of the main wall is precluded by
the discovery of a coin of
Aretas IV and
Shaqilath I (c. 9 B.C-A.D. 40) in a level immediately
underlying the construction level associated with that rebuilding.
