Dalali-Amos (2016) reported that the Stratum III building "may have been damaged in the Earthquake of 749 CE [one of the 749 CE Sabbatical Year Quakes]". She also noted that "remains from this period were found in Stratum III in Hirschfeld’s excavation, which he dated from the end of the fifth century until the Earthquake of 749 CE (Hirschfeld 2004:5)".

The tops of the Stratum III walls (e.g., W115 and W116) were removed and leveled prior to the construction of the overlying Stratum II. As a result, the surviving Stratum III walls were left only one course high and were subsequently reused as foundations for the Stratum II structures. Although this later construction removed potential archaeoseismic evidence, the missing upper courses of the earlier walls may indicate that they had collapsed or were severely damaged during an earthquake.