• Location Map from Jones (2021)
  Figure 2
  
  Map of Petra with the locations of major excavations marked
  
  Jones (2021)
  
  Basemap: Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics, USDA FSA, USGS, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
• Plan of the Temple of the Winged Lions from Ward (2016)
  Figure 5
  
  Plan of the Temple of the Winged Lions (Plan: Qutaiba Dasouqi; courtesy of Temple of the Winged Lions Cultural Resource Management Initiative).
  
  Ward (2016)

In 1973 and 1974, Hammond (1975) excavated the Temple of the Winged Lions which he labeled as the Temple of Site II. The phasing of the Temple of the Winged Lions and the domestic complex in Area I ~50 meters east of the Temple of the Winged Lions were similar and apparently reconciled in Hammond (1978). What is presented below is Hammond (1975)'s phasing fro the temple of the Winged Lions.

Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017) re-evaluated the excavated materials from Area I and presented a revised chronology but not a table. This revised chronology affects the dating of supposed early 2nd century CE earthquake evidence and should likely apply to both the Temple of the Winged Lions and Area I near to the Temple of the Winged Lions.

Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017)'s analysis suggests that, although early 2nd century CE earthquake evidence is present in Petra and other sites of the Nabateans, some of Russell (1985)'s phasing for Area I near the Temple of the Winged Lions was off by up to a couple of centuries. These conclusions should likely be equally applicable to the Temple of the Winged Lions. Some excerpts follow:

The conclusions to be presented here include a revision of the dating of the Early House in Area I and the ceramic assemblages uncovered its antechamber and the upper and lower levels of the structure to the late 2nd and early 3rd c. CE when the structure was abandoned. This revised dating is supported by evidence from other parts of the AEP excavations such as the Painters' Workshop and important find spots near the temple that are presented in this paper as well as material from other parts of the Provincia Arabia in the post-annexation period.
...
The use of a revised ceramic chronology in dating these assemblages will undoubtedly prove to be controversial, however we believe that such a revision is long overdue and is in itself an important tool for the re-examination of the phasing of structures and occupational layers in Petra and other sites in the Provincia Arabia, the vast majority of which have been erroneously dated to the later 1st to early 2nd c. CE.
...
In 1977, Russell prepared a tentative phasing of the stratigraphy in Area I. The final phasing prepared by him in 1978 indicates the presence of twenty archaeological phases (Phases XX—I) and the remains of successive domestic structures of the Early Roman (pre-annexation, i.e., the Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE), Middle Roman (post-annexation) and Byzantine periods. He designated these structures the "Early House", the "Middle House", and the "Late House".
...
The earliest archaeological material discovered in Area I, uncovered below the earliest architectural remains and in ancient falls, dates to the Hellenistic period. The latest material belongs to an overlying cemetery that Russell dated to the Late Byzantine or Early Islamic periods.
...
As we shall see below, the abandonment of the Early House in Area I and abandoned hoards in rooms of the Temple of the Winged Lions complex were probably the result of an epidemic that occurred sometime in the 3rd c. rather than the early 2nd c. earthquake as claimed by Russell.
...

EVIDENCE OF AN EARTHQUAKE EVENT IN THE EARLY SECOND CENTURY CE

Russell's misreading of the archaeological evidence led him to attribute the end of the occupation of the Early House in Phase XV to earthquake destruction that he dated to 113/114 CE based on the discovery of the single coin found in the antechamber, a brass sestertius commemorating Trajan's alimenta italiae endowment dated to the period between 103 and 117 CE, together with the hoard of unguentaria and other ceramic vessels (Russell, 1985:40-41). Although the Early House was not destroyed and abandoned by an earthquake in the early 2nd c., evidence of earthquake damage is discernible with the renovations that took place in its final occupation in Phase XVI.
...
Subsequent research carried out in several sites⁶⁴, including Petra itself, indicate that an early 2nd c. earthquake did indeed take place (Erickson-Gini 2010:47) ⁶⁵. An examination of the records and photographs of the western side of the Temple of the Winged Lions complex also reveals evidence of earthquake damage that precedes that of the 363 CE earthquake. This evidence includes the blockage of doorways with architectural fragments that appear to have been derived from the temple, for instance in Area III.8 (SU 113; W2; Aug. 2, 1977), that were also used in the construction of the pavement in WII.1W. Revetments adding support to walls were photographed in Area III.7 (AEP 83900). In addition, a hoard of vessels of the late 1st c. BCE and first half of the 1st c. CE was discovered in the AEP 2000 season in a spot next to the eastern corridor in Area III.10 (SU 19). This assemblage of restorable vessels included several plain fineware, carinated bowls that correspond to later forms of Schmid's Gruppe 5 dated to the second half of the 1st c. BCE (2000 AEP RI. 41), (2000: Abb. 41) together with early forms of his Gruppe 6 dated to the 1st c. CE (2000 AEP RI. 11), (2000: Abb. 50) and two early painted ware bowls (2000 AEP RI. 42) corresponding to Schmid's Dekorgruppe 2a (2000: Abbs. 80=81) dated to the end of the 1st c. BCE and early 1st c. CE.⁶⁶ In spite of the presence of these early vessels, the AEP 2000 season finds registries records nearly all of them as dating to 363 CE.
...
Russell was correct in dating the early form of the Early House (Phase XVII) to the 1st c. ceramic vessels of that period
...
The Early House was obviously renovated, prior to its final form in Phase XVI, similar to other buildings discovered in Petra. Some Nabataean communities, such as Mampsis and Oboda, underwent a wave of new construction in the newly-organized Roman Province of Arabia while sites such as 'En Rahel and 'En Yotvata were destroyed and never re-built. Renovations in wake of structural damage evident in structures in many sites in the years following the annexation, as well as the construction of new buildings, point to a widespread earthquake event in southern Transjordan and the Negev in the early 2nd c. CE. The event may have influenced or even prompted the Roman annexation that occurred soon afterwards. At Petra, the Early House was not destroyed at that time but rather it was renovated and occupied until the early 3rd c. when it was abandoned, possibly in the wake of an epidemic.
...

Conclusions

The primary issue concerning the Early House is the date and manner of its abandonment. An outstanding difficulty in Russell's phasing in Area I is the two hundred year period between the renovations that supposedly took place in the Early House in the early 2nd c. CE (Phase XVI) and the construction of the Middle House in the early 4th c. CE (Phase XII). This gap in the archaeological record is largely artificial and can be attributed to the fact that a single coin was used to date the critical ceramic assemblage found in Room 2 (antechamber) of the Early House (SU 176, 800, 803) to the very beginning of the 2nd c. Rather than its destruction by earthquake in the early 2nd c., the body of evidence points to its abandonment sometime in the early 3rd c. similar to sites along the Petra—Gaza road.

Footnotes

64 Evidence of an earthquake at Petra in the late first or early 2nd c. CE has been uncovered by

• Kirkbride and Parr at Petra (Kirkbride 1960: 118-19; Parr 1960: 129
• Joukowsky and Basile 2001: 50) and more recently in the ez-Zantur excavations Kolb and Keller 2002: 286; Grawehr 2007: 399)

Evidence of the event has also been uncovered in sites in the surrounding region at:

• Aqaba (Dolinka 2003: 30-32, Fig. 14)
• 'En Yotvata (Erickson-Gini 2012a)
• Moyat 'Awad and Shdar Ramon (Cohen 1982: 243-44; Erickson-Gini and Israel 2013: 45)
• 'En Rahel (Korjenkov and Erickson-Gini 2003)
• Mezad Mahmal (Erickson-Gini 2011)
• Mampsis (Negev 1971: 166; Erickson-Gini 2010: 47)
• Oboda (Erickson-Gini, in press)
• Horvat Hazaza (Erickson-Gini, in press).

However, with regard to Khirbet Tannur, in light of the final publication and re-evaluation of Nelson Glueck's excavation by J.S. McKenzie et. al. (2013), his claim that Altar 3 was built in wake of earthquake damage of the early 2nd c. (termed the 113-114 CE earthquake) appears to be untenable due to the re-dating of Period 2 at the site to the first half of the 2nd c. CE (Mckenzie 2013: 137).

65 The occurrence of an early 2nd c. earthquake has been disputed by S.G. Schmid who proposed that destruction contexts indicated in Nabataean sites were the result of Roman military actions in wake of the annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE (1997: 418-420).

66 A lamp in found in close proximity in SU 18 (2000 AEP RI.23) corresponds to Grawhr's Typ 3.D (75-125 CE), (2006: 293). A complete unguentarium of a type with a flat base like that found in the Nabataean fort at 'En Rahel was also present in SU 19 (2000 AEP RI.44).

Although the Phase X destruction layer was initially misdated to the Crete earthquake of 365 CE, Hammond (1980) later acknowledged this as a mistake. The corrected correlation of the Phase X destruction layer would then be to the southern Cyril Quake of 363 CE. See also Area I near the Temple of the Winged Lions. Jones (2021) noted that

Ward (2016: 144) has pointed out that the evidence for dating the major destruction to 363 is quite limited, although this is still the most reasonable date for this destruction.

Jones (2021) noted the following:

Erickson-Gini and Tuttle (2017: 144-45) note the lack of 6th century material at both the Temple of the Winged Lions and the residential complex in nearby Area I, although this may simply indicate that the area was abandoned prior to its destruction in the late 6th century.

Hammond (1975) discussed this archaeoseismic evidence as follows:

There can be no question that the architectural debris covered by the silting of the previous phase and resting on the surface of the next phase below represents anything but the final destruction of the building of Phase XV. The direction of this fall ran from the Northwest to the Southeast consistently throughout the excavated areas of the previous phase and resting on the surface of the next phase below represents anything but the final destruction of the building of Phase XV. The direction of this fall ran from the Northwest to the Southeast consistently throughout the excavated areas.
...
much of the building was intact at the point of this destruction --with columns still standing, some capitals and cornices still in place, considerable plaster decoration still in situ, intercolumnar or gate (?) arches (?) still standing, and possibly even sections of the roof (?) still in place. With this earthquake all of the superstructure was tumbled that had survived the earlier earth tremor which had already partially - but only partially - demolished the structure.
...
it is suggested that the same chronology be postulated for this structure, in terms of destruction, as was established for the Theater: namely that this phase be dated to A. D. 746/748, the second and most severe of the two earthquakes involved. The overlying recovered materials of the higher phases do not conflict at all with this dating and it can plausibly fit the peculiarities of ceramic materials recovered -- i. e. early in the Early Islamic period wherein local potters ("Byzantine") continued to produce familiar wares and types without yet evidencing "Islamic" influences.
...
This fall phase was the richest in recovered architectural materials per se, and the specifics of content greatly assist in suggesting possible reconstructions. This quantity of material also attests to the force of the earth tremors which finally brought down the super-structure of the building, as was also the case at the Main Theater.

• architectural fall debris - Hammond (1975)
• some capitals dislodged, along with cornice-carrying blocks, wall members, and other structural members - Hammond (1975)
• a great deal of internal plastered decoration, including undercoatings, was also dislodged - Hammond (1975)
• loss and fragmentation of some capitals - Hammond (1975)
• a considerable number of free-standing columns survived the quake - Hammond (1975)

Hammond (1975) described seismic effects as follows:

much of the building was intact at the point of this destruction --with columns still standing, some capitals and cornices still in place, considerable plaster decoration still in situ, intercolumnar or gate (?) arches (?) still standing, and possibly even sections of the roof (?) still in place. With this earthquake all of the superstructure was tumbled that had survived the earlier earth tremor which had already partially - but only partially - demolished the structure.

• Earthquake Archeological Effects chart
  Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)
  
  Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
  of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

• Earthquake Archeological Effects chart
  Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)
  
  Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
  of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Articles and Books

Erickson-Gini, T. and C. Tuttle (2017). An Assessment and Re-examination of the American Expedition in Petra Excavation in the Residential Area (Area I), 1974–1977: The Early House and Related Ceramic Assemblages: 91-150.

Hammond, P. C. (1975). "Survey and Excavation at Petra, 1973-1974." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 20 20.

Hammond, P. C. (1978). "Excavations at Petra: 1975-1977 " Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 22.

Jones, I. W. N. (2021). "The southern Levantine earthquake of 418/419 AD and the archaeology of Byzantine Petra." Levant: 1-15.

Kirkbride, D. (1960:118-119). "A Short Account of the Excavations at Petra in 1955-56." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan: 4-5..

Parr, Peter 1959 Rock Engravings from Petra. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 91, pp. 106-108.



Excavation Reports

Hammond, P. C. (1996). The Temple of the Winged Lions, Petra, Jordan, 1973-1990, Petra Pub.



Websites

Temple of the Winged Lions Publication Project

Temple of the Winged Lions - ACOR