The model has been constructed from pen and ink drawings created in the late 1960s to depict the stratigraphy of the Roman Temple site (second to fourth centuries CE) at Tell er Ras situated on Mt. Gerezim overlooking the city of Nablus situated some 50 miles north of Jerusalem. The original drawings were done by Oliver Unwin for the American Schools of Oriental Research excavations at that site directed by Robert Bull. This model allows researchers to view the stratigraphic elements of the site as a single entity rather than as a collection of individual plans and cross-sections.