In 1873, Kitchener and Conder, on a surveying mission with the Palestine Exploration Fund, visited the site and mentioned it as being "a large ruin, which stands upon the terraced hill top.

[12] The thickness of the northernmost wall, where the hill was easily accessible, is measured at 2.8 metres (9.2 ft), and was built with three semi-circular watch towers.

From one end of Galilee to the other there was an orgy of fire and bloodshed; no horror, no calamity was spared; the only safety for the fugitive inhabitants was in the towns which Josephus had fortified....There are no surviving written records on the fate of the town's defenders, although Josephus alludes to it in his Life's Autobiography (§ 65) where he writes: “...I was in the power of the Romans before Jerusalem was besieged, and before the same time, Jotapata was taken by force, as well as many other fortresses, and a great many of the Galileans fell in the war.” Elsewhere, Josephus writes (The Jewish War 4.7) that after the fall of Tarichaea, all but two of the rebel fortresses and strongholds surrendered to the Roman army.

[17] Mordechai Aviam who excavated the site has noted that the ancient ruin has yielded large quantities of "Galilean Coarse Ware" (GCW)[18] and other Hellenistic and Early Roman shards and coins.

Another discovery consists of a fragmented bronze base along with the preserved foot of a statuette depicting the Egyptian bull deity Apis.