The excavations of the lower city of Maresha reveal that the Hellenistic Period was the time of the flourishing of the ancient city. No architectural remains from the Persian period have been found on the site, though in one of the caves (Cave System 75) an occupation level from the Persian period has been found, as well as Iron Age and Hellenistic strata. The Persian period was represented mainly by small finds, including pottery, lamps and figurines.

Most of the Persian Period Figurines were found in the rich fills in the underground caves. These fills contained mainly Hellenistic, but also Persian and Iron Age, artifacts. Some of the caves were filled by erosion or by collapses from the above-ground structures. But the fills with the richest finds were those deliberately deposited in the caves, probably at the end of the second century BCE.

Since the Persian Period Figurines were not found in situ, their archaeological contexts do not assist in determining either date of manufacture and use or functions.

The earliest written record of Maresha was as a city in ancient Judah. After the destruction of the First Temple the city of Maresha became part of the Edomite kingdom. In the late Persian period a Sidonian community settled in Maresha, and the city is mentioned in the Zenon Papyri (259 BCE). During the Hasmonean wars Maresha was a base for attacks against Judea and eventually suffered retaliation from the Maccabees. After John Hyrcanus I captured and destroyed Maresha in 113 BCE the region of Idumea remained under Hasmonean control. In 40 BCE the Parthians devastated completely the "strong city", after which it was never rebuilt.

Tell Maresha was first excavated in 1900 CE by Bliss and Macalister, who uncovered a planned and fortified Hellenistic city encircled by a town wall with towers. Two Hellenistic and one Israelite strata were identified by them on the mound. From 1989 through 1985 Amos Kloner cleared the northwestern tower of the Hellenistic city on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, thereby revealing two Hellenistic phases of construction in the fortifications. The earlier tower, dated to ca. 300 BCE, was built into the debris of the Persian period. A new tower, dated to ca. 200 BCE and built directly over the earlier Hellenstic tower, was probably destroyed toward the end of that century. Beneath these fortifications Kloner identified Persian and Iron Age levels of occupation. Finds from the Israelite (Iron Age) stratum discovered during the excavations of 1900 CE include seventeen la-melekh seal impressions. Among the rich finds from the Hellenstic period were 328 stamped Rhodian amphora handles and three inscriptions. Sixteen small lead figurines and fifty-one limestone execration tablets attest to the practice of magic in Hellenistic Maresha.

Tell Sandahannah, located ca. 1.5 km. south of Beth Govrin and 39 km. east of Ashkelon, has been identified as the site of ancient Maresha (Marisa) by Robinson, Petrie, Bliss and others, on the bases of biblical references and the writings of Josephus and Eusebius. This identification has since been confirmed by modern excavations. Ancient Maresha occupied the high mound, a lower city with ancillary cave complexes, and a necropolis which encompassed the entire site of Tell Sandahannah.