[9] The nearby Khirbet al-'Uqeiba was first excavated during the Mandate period, and was shown to contain remains such as building foundations, hewn stones, and wine presses.

[13] According to Liebner, a 1965 letter in the IAA composed by antiquities inspector N. Tfilinski notes a Hebrew inscription on a building stone found at the site.

During archeological excavations, coins from Dor and Sepphoris were found in the caves, dating to the Roman emperor Trajan period.

[16][17][18] The earliest mention of this bet midrash is in the context of discussions between Rabbi Yohanan and sages of 'Akbara.

[20] According to tradition, the body of Rabbi Elazar ben Simeon was laying for twenty two years in his widow's garret in Akbara since he told her not to allow his colleagues to bury him.

[25] Samuel ben Samson visited 'Akbara during his 1210 Palestine pilgrimage, he described the tomb of Rabbi Meir he had found there.

[26] In 1258 Jacob of Paris visited Akbara and found there, according to Pirkei Avot, tombs of Rabbi Nehurai.

Moshe Basola visited the village in 1522 and said that he had found there "destroyed synagogue, 3 cubits high remaining on two sides".

It is dominated by a platform on which foundations can be traced of a rectangular enclosure called el Kuneiseh, measuring thirty paces in length by twenty-three in breadth.

"[31]In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Akbara as a village built of stone and adobe with about 90 inhabitants who cultivated olive and fig trees.

On 25 May 1948, during Operation Yiftah, under the command of Yigal Allon, Galilee was cleared of its Palestinian Arab population.

[41] Following the 25 May exodus of al-Khisas the last 55 villagers who had remained in their homes for just over a year were 'transferred' by Israeli forces despite having good relations and collaborating with Jewish settlements in the area.

[42] Salman Abu-Sitta, author of the Atlas of Palestine,[44] estimated that the number of Palestinian refugees from 'Akbara in 1998 was 1,852 people.