The earliest mentions of the village occur in sources from the Roman and Byzantine periods in Galilee, when it was then a Jewish village known as "Kefar Hananya" (or "Kfar Hanania"), that served as a center for pottery production in the Galilee. Archaeological excavations revealed shafts and bases of columns, caves, a pool, and a burial ground. Most of the cooking ware in the Galilee between the 1st century BCE and the beginning of the 5th century CE was produced here. The foundation of a synagogue carved in the rock and which can still be seen there is thought to be from the 5th-century CE.