Haynes et al. (2006) identify an earlier seismic event, Event IV, at Qasr Tilah that they date to the 7th century CE. They suggest that the causative earthquake was either the Sword in the Sky Quake (633/634 CE) or the Jordan Valley Quake of 659/660 CE, favoring the latter.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the site was occupied at the time of this 7th century destruction. Structural repairs were carried out after the event, showing continued use of the site following the earthquake. Because of these repairs, it is unclear how much lateral slip was produced, or even whether the observed damage was caused by lateral displacement or by generalized destructive shaking. At some point after this repair phase, the site was abandoned. Archaeological evidence indicates that occupation did not continue beyond the Early Umayyad period (661–700 CE). As noted by Haynes et al. (2006), "MacDonald (1992) collected some Byzantine and Umayyad surface potsherds at the site and documented ruins of Byzantine houses (village) along the fan surface of Wadi Tilah."

If the observed repairs addressed damage caused by lateral slip rather than generalized shaking, this would imply that part of the Wadi Araba fault ruptured during the 7th century event.

Left - Figure 5 - Schematic diagram of Trench A.7 north wall. Stratigraphic units are identified by lowercase letters. Faults are emphasized by heavy lines. Earthquakes are identified by Roman numerals, with IV as the oldest. Dashed lines indicate unexcavated portion of aqueduct floor.

Right - Figure 4 - Schematic stratigraphic column of Trench A.7. Thicknesses of units are generalized from measurements of unit throughout the trench. Listed artifacts provide age control for constraining deposition and earthquake history in units where they were discovered. Age constraints come from radiocarbon data and typological dating of sherds.

Click on either image to open in a new tab - Both figures from Haynes et al. (2006)