Archaeological surveys indicate that the mound was occupied from the Persian to the Crusader period, with a gap during the entire Roman period, and intermittent settlement after the Umayyad period until the Crusader resettlement.[1] The first two authors to mention the settlement were the Greek Strabo (63/64 BCE – c. 24 CE) and the Roman Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 CE), both writing during the Roman period.