[3] A grave, dating from the Roman Empire era in Palestine, was found looted by thieves just outside Serra.

[4] In 1517, the village was included in the Ottoman empire with the rest of Palestine, and it appeared in the 1596 tax-records as Sarra, located in the Nahiya of Jabal Qubal of the Liwa of Nablus.

They paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 1,549 akçe.

[9] In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village with a population of 62 households in the nahiya (sub-district) of Jamma'in al-Awwal, subordinate to Nablus.

[10] In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described Surra as: "A small village in a hollow, with a spring on the south east, surrounded by olives.