 Several ancient cisterns dug into the rock provided water for the residents.In 1882, the Palestine Exploration Fund's "Survey of Western Palestine" described Serta as a small stone village.In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sarta had a population of 275 Muslims and 1 Jew, increasing in the 1931 census to 317, all Muslim, in a total of 76 houses.