In Egypt in 1887 W. M. F. Petrie found painted sherds of Cretan style at Kahun in the Faiyum, and farther up the Nile, at Tell el-Amarna, chanced on bits of no fewer than 800 Aegean vases in 1889.
In 1884–85 he organized and financed excavations in Wadi Hammamat, followed by the research at Tell el-Maskhuta in 1888–89.