The archaeological evidence instead, releases new data about a late reoccupation of the site, concentrated especially inside the area of the main temple of the town, during the 4th-5th centuries until the end of the Byzantine period.

The archaeological area of the settlement (kom) has an oval shape measuring 660 m N-S and 350 m E-W and it is crossed by a paved dromos 400 m long.

The main archaeological evidence is the monumental light-grey mud-brick temenos to the North-West, with walls preserved in some points up to 15 m in height, having an irregular rectangular plan.

The most important building is the main temple, located in the middle of the temenos, which hosted beside Soknopaios the synnaoi theoi, like Isis Nepherses and Soknopiais.

It is built in regular yellow limestone blocks and is thought to be a late Ptolemaic or early Roman addition and became the sanctuary for the worship of the gods, while the building to the South became a sort of propylon.

It was intended as a processional road, connecting the temple's southern entrance with a staircase, and dividing the settlement into an eastern and western quarter.

Some stairs and two tunnels allowed people to pass from East to West quarter of this imposing barrier that formed a tremendous stage for the ritual processions during more than 150 days of feasts a year.

Lepsius, during his Prussian campaign in Egypt, spent two days in Dime, executing a plan of the site as well as some excellent and very well detailed drawings.

From the second half of the 19th century Soknopaiou Nesos has been subject of many excavations carried out either by official missions or, what is the most common case, by robbers looking for antiquities to sell at the art market.

In 1892 Major R.H. Brown, trying to define the ancient level of Lake Qarun, dug a trench next to the dromos with the aim of reaching its bottom.

An archaeological mission organized by the Berlin Königlichen Museen, directed by F. Zucker in collaboration with W. Schubart, carried out excavations at Soknopaiou Nesos.

They also investigated the southern edge of the dromos, demonstrating quite convincingly that this road was not used in ancient times as a quay but as a normal alley connecting the two extremities of the town.

According to the written sources from Soknopaiou Nesos, the inhabitants often bore specific names (e.g. Panephremmis, Satabous, Tesenouphis), which were not at all common in other settlements of the Fayyum.

[10] Due to the specific population structure (which consisted mostly of priestly families), but also due to the remote location of the site (on a plateau on the edge of the desert, which was distant from arable land even in ancient times), the inhabitants of Soknopaiou Nesos lived primarily from trade and animal husbandry, but also from the expenses and donations of visitors who came to the site for religious or tourist interest: Priests were involved in the local camel breeding and caravan trade, while they provided oracles and produced magical amulets in the temple district.