The ancient site of Nessana includes the acropolis with Late Roman fort, two churches, and a monumental staircase that leads down the hill, to the lower town. Which itself mainly located on the eastern bank of the Nahal Ezuz brook.

Despite the intensive excavation conducted at the site by two expeditions, the general plan of Nessana in the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods, with its public areas, markets, and streets, remains archaeologically unknown. We have detailly examined all the published and unpublished archival materials, plans, field notes and historical photographs of the site, from the 1900s to the 1990s surveys and excavations, and combined the data with modern GIS analysis and Arial scanning of the site. Of special importance are also the plans of Ottoman structures built in 1900s in the lower town, apparently following ancient planning. 

The synchronization of all obtained data allowed us to produce the plans of Nessana, the first of its kind in the hundred years of the site’s research and helped to reconstruct the stratigraphy of the ancient settlement.