Wall Charring Earthquake (?)
Clark (1987) reports architectural and depositional evidence that may
reflect earthquake damage at the site, noting that stones in the adjacent
barrack walls (H.2:001 and 002) were charred at a destruction level that he
interprets as either a localized fire or a more extensive conflagration,
“perhaps the result of the 363 earthquake,” also pointing to associated ash
layers in H.1:012, 014, and 015. The ceramics sealed within this ash were
predominantly Late Roman IV to Early Byzantine, although a single sherd may
belong to the Umayyad period, raising questions about the precise dating of
the event.
In the
vicus building (H.5), coins were recovered from the soil
immediately overlying floor H.5:009, with the latest specimen dating to
337–340 CE (Coin 52-H.5:014), and Clark observed that there were no
indications that occupation of this room “extended beyond the mid-fourth
century.” Although no unequivocal archaeoseismic features were documented
within the
vicus itself, Clark (1987:488) nonetheless suggested that
the abandonment of this space may be related to the southern
Cyril Quake of 363 CE.