[1] During the pharaonic period, there was a vast cemetery, which is most well known for its decorated Middle Kingdom tombs on the north flank of Wadi Nakhla.

[3] However, "despite their poor state of preservation, they still contain important texts which, linked to contemporary quarry inscriptions at Hatnub, make it possible to reconstruct a family tree of the governors, spanning much of the Middle Kingdom.

[3] It also continued to be used as a cemetery until the end of the Second Intermediate Period and the early New Kingdom, as shown by pottery shards found in later expeditions.

[8][9][10] In several of these tomb shafts they found elaborately decorated and inscribed coffins of officials of the twelfth-dynasty, and grave goods such as offerings tables and wooden models.

In 1902, Kamal returned to excavate at Dayr al-Barsha with a "Mr. Antonini, the owner of the sugar factory at Mallawī," and "only one object was considered worthy of publication, an offering table made of calcite alabaster.

"[11] In the spring of 1915, the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, led by George Andrew Reisner expedition dug at Bersha.

[12] The tomb contained an enormous collection of wooden models representing scenes of daily life and boats along with the extraordinary painted coffins of Djehutynakht and his wife.

The walls and ceiling of the portico were painted with hieroglyphs and designs like quatrefoils in several colors, including pink, blue, yellow and green.

Down a few steps at the back wall of the main chamber was a shrine, to be closed by double doors as seen by the remaining pivot holes.

The scenes depict Tehuti-Hetep and his men, the process of dragging a colossal statue on a sledge to a temple, and the sacrifices made on the occasion.