The cemetery was excavated extensively by an Australian archaeological and epigraphic expedition under the auspices of the Australian Centre for Egyptology and Macquarie University and the direction of Professor Naguib Kanawati.
He has directed numerous excavations and epigraphic expeditions, at sites including the entire mountain of El-Hawawish (in excess of 800 Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period rock-cut tombs), Quseir El Amarna, El Hagarsa (near Sohag), Deir El Gebrawi, Giza, as well as the Unis and Teti pyramid cemeteries at Saqqara.