Two Inferred Antique Earthquake Phases Recorded in the Roman Theater of Beit-Ras/Capitolias (Jordan) (original) (raw)

Cite this article as Al-Tawalbeh, M., R. Jaradat, K. Al-Bashaireh, A. Al-Rawabdeh, A. Gharaibeh, B. Khrisat, and M. Kázmér (2020). Two Inferred Antique Earthquake Phases Recorded in the Roman Theater of Beit-Ras/Capitolias (Jordan), Seismol. Res. Lett. XX, 1–19, doi: 10.1785/0220200238. A Roman theater is recently being excavated at Beit-Ras/Capitolias in Jordan, which is one of the Decapolis cities, founded before A.D. 97/98. This is an archaeoseismological study that aims to investigate the temporal and intensity impacts of past earthquakes on the theater’s existing structure. A rich set of earthquake archaeological effects were identified, including deformed arches, tilted and collapsed walls, chipped corners of masonry blocks, and extensional gaps, indicating a seismic intensity of VIII–IX. The study identified at least two significant destruction phases that took part in the damage of the theater, which may have contributed to the abandonment of its major use as a theater at di...