Kuhnen et al. (2018) report that excavations indicate the desert palace at Minya was not fully completed before being damaged by an earthquake, which they presume struck in the mid-8th century CE. In Square WES I, excavated at the corner between the eastern curtain wall and the southern gate tower, clear evidence of collapse was identified. The authors note that "the foundation trench was filled with debris that contained fragments of limestone ashlars mixed with basalt boulders," and that this fill yielded Early Islamic pottery with some later intrusions. They further observe that "the white limestone masonry of the eastern wall and the gate tower rose above a bottom course of large basalt ashlars," a construction method used for all four curtain walls of the palace, leading them to conclude that the protruding gate complex formed part of the original architectural plan. Along the eastern curtain wall, the fill contained "numerous broken roof tiles," described as being lightly burnt, possibly as a result of fire associated with the earthquake. Kuhnen et al. (2018) also remark that "reused architectural elements seen in the upper courses of the gate indicate partial reconstruction in a later [post earthquake] building phase."