Although Russell (1985) argued that the Early House in Area I preserved strong evidence for an early 2nd-century CE earthquake, a later re-examination of the excavation archive by Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017) casts doubt on this chronology. Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017) argue that Russell’s original phasing for Area I introduced an artificial gap of nearly two centuries between the Early House renovations (placed by Russell in the early 2nd century) and the construction of the Middle House in the early 4th century. This gap, they contend, resulted from over-reliance on a single coin to date the critical ceramic assemblage from Room 2 of the Early House. Russell’s report of a Trajanic sestertius, minted between 103 and 117 CE and found on a floor slab beside crushed unguentaria in a collapsed storage room or antechamber, is interpreted by Erickson-Gini and Tuttle as evidence for occupation followed by abandonment, rather than as secure dating for earthquake destruction. Rather than earthquake destruction in the early 2nd century, Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017) argue that the available archaeological and ceramic evidence points to abandonment of the Early House sometime in the late 2nd or early 3rd century CE, possibly related to a regional epidemic, a pattern also observed at sites along the Petra–Gaza road.

Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017) do, however, identify rebuilding evidence for earthquake damage that predates the 363 CE earthquake event, visible on the western side of the nearby Temple of the Winged Lions complex (Area III). This evidence includes blocked doorways built with reused architectural temple fragments, spolia paving, and wall-supporting revetments. These features may be coincident with the Area I rebuilding phase (Hammond’s Phase XVI), which preceded the phase (Hammond’s Phase XV) that Russell interpreted as early second-century earthquake destruction.

Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017) further note that a hoard discovered in Area III during the AEP 2000 season consisted of late 1st-century BCE to early 1st-century CE ceramic forms, including vessels belonging to later variants of Schmid’s Gruppe 5, early Gruppe 6, and Dekorgruppe 2a, all of which predate the early 2nd century.