847 CE Damascus Quake

Rattenborg and Blanke (2017:19-21) report the following:

The later phase of occupation in the domestic complexes, bracketed between 800-900, saw the addition of steps in several outer doorways to prevent refuse and accumulated soil on exterior surfaces from slipping into living quarters. This corroborates the long period of usage inferable from architectural alterations. Occupation was punctuated by another round of structural collapse, which is associated with the abandonment of two rooms in the northern wing of Building B and with the collapse and subsequent infilling of the subsurface compartment around the cistern shaft in the courtyard of the same structure. Finds of discarded fragments of reduction-fired roof tiles in subsurface packing of the latest phase of domestic occupation in Area GO can be associated with identical material retrieved from underneath a substantial wall collapse in the laneway between the mosque west wall and Building A, and suggest that the dwellings in Area GO may have had tiled roofs. These strata likely relate to the same event that marked the termination of the penultimate phase of the congregational mosque.

Given the prolonged usage of the Area GO housing units and the nature of the subsequent collapse, this event should be dated to the latter half of the 9th century at the earliest, perhaps corresponding with the collapse of the residential units on the hilltop (Blanke forthcoming). Associated structural collapse, outside the mosque qibla wall and within and around the domestic complexes to the east, is less imposing than the mid-8th century collapse layers, but a number of potentially significant earthquakes in the area are known from the late 9th and 10th centuries (see Ghawanmeh 1992: p. 56 Table I; Sbeinati et al. 2005: pp. 365-367 and Table II; also el-Isa 1985: pp. 232-233 and Table 1 JW: I suggest cross-checking catalogues of Ambraseys, 2009, Guidoboni and Comastri, 2005, and this one). Pottery finds from paved floors of GO Phase 3/II in Building A provides a good range of material characteristic of a late 8th — 9th century date with painted red terracotta and cream and pale orange wares well represented, accentuating the changing horizons of Early Islamic material culture (Walmsley 1995: 668; 2001b: 310). A nearly complete decorated Cream Ware jug was retrieved from below wall collapse overlying a paved floor in the eastern part of Building A. Comparable material is available from the Abbasid housings further north (Gawlikowski 1986: Plates XII-XIII; also Gawlikowski 1995), and finds further parallels e.g. in the assemblage from Area Z at Umm Qais (Gadara) (el-Khouri and Omoush 2015: 17-20).

Following another round of structural collapse in the late 9th or early 10th century, the mosque was rebuilt to house a much more modest congregation, utilising only the westernmost third of the prayer hall, and leaving the spacious courtyard in a dilapidated state. Wall collapse clogged the laneway along the northwest perimeter wall of the mosque courtyard, blocking access from the main westward street, and was, apparently, never removed. Curiously enough, this collapse layer was not found in the passageway between the mosque's western entrance and its southwest corner, suggesting that access to the prayer hall from the residential units was maintained for a longer span of time.

The Qiblat Hall (IRS)

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So far over five tonnes of roof tile pieces have been found within the qiblat hall. The oblong plan of the hall, with its qiblat wall, the double colonnade and the row of entrance piers, suggests a long triple-gabled roof covered the qiblat hall. The tile fragments have mostly been recovered from a thick dark layer that is largely uniform throughout the qiblat hall. No complete roofing tiles have been found, probably because any roof tiles that had not smashed were taken for reuse elsewhere after the initial collapse of the roof. Other salvageable building materials were also taken and only a few small areas of the paved floor remain. Post-collapse salvaging activity would explain the disturbance of the collapse layer.

There is a great deal of stone tumble lying outside the mosque walls from the collapse of the qiblat hall. Much less stone is found inside the hall, which shows that the walls fell outwards, pushed by the force of the heavy roof. The pattern of the fallen outer walls, the uniformity of the collapse layer and abundance of roof tile fragments indicate that the roof and some of the mosque walls collapsed in one event. Barnes et al (2006:295)

Rattenborg and Blanke (2017:19-21) report arcaheoseismic evidence as follows:

On the southwest hill, excavations conducted by the Late Antique Jarash Project (LAW) exposed a storeroom located in the southern part of a residential building and opening onto a courtyard. The stone-built walls were placed directly on bedrock with a floor comprised by hard-packed yellow clay. The installation of piers along the north and south walls as well as the recovery of arch-stones shows that the roof was vaulted and covered in the same yellow clay that was also used for the walls. The building collapsed in a single violent event — an earthquake — causing the structure to be abandoned.

A deposit associated with the final use of the building and sealed by collapse, contained ceramic vessels associated with cooking and the storage of food. The ceramic assemblage comprised roughly 1,000 sherds amounting to 22 nearly intact vessels with only a few sherds from other pots. Of the 22 vessels, nine were larger pithoi-style storage containers, while the remaining 13 comprised smaller storage jars, cooking pots and a few examples of fine wares (Pappalardo forthcoming). Several vessels can confidently be dated to the Abbasid period. Most striking are sherds from three vessels that were produced in a hard black fabric with a polished surface, which are comparable to sherds found in Abbasid layers near the congregational mosque in the centre of town. A black beaker is distinctively Abbasid in its form and is comparable in shape to vessels found in e.g. Pella and Jerusalem and dating to the late 8th or 9th centuries. The fabric matches a rare ceramic specimen from Nabratein of the same early Abbasid date (Magness 1994).