[1][3] Pottery sherds from the late Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods have been found here.

[4] According to SWP: "This place is mentioned in the Onomasticon (s. v. Atharoth) as a city of Ephraim, north of Sebaste, and 4 miles from it.

[4] In the 1596 Ottoman tax registers, Al-Attara was listed as an entirely Muslim village called 'Attara, and had a population of 12 families and 2 bachelors.

The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, and goats and/or beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a tax on people from the Nablus area, a total of 5,000 akçe.

[8] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Al-Attara as "A small stone village on a spur of mountain, with a few olives and a well on the west.