The excavations were sponsored by the Graeco-Roman branch and thus were concerned with recovering papyri from the Graeco-Roman period rather than objects or material from different time periods.
Grenfell and Hunt assumed this was the city mentioned in papyri by the geographic location of the ruins of a stone temple from the Late Ptolemaic period.
Grenfell, Bernard P. and Arthur S. Hunt 1899. Graeco-Roman branch: excavations for papyri in the Fayum; the position of Lake Moeris. Archaeological Report (Egypt Exploration Fund) (1898-1899), 8-15.
Links
[1] https://egyptartefacts.griffith.ox.ac.uk/resources/egypt-exploration-fund-eff-graeco-roman-branch
[2] https://egyptartefacts.griffith.ox.ac.uk/people/bernard-p-grenfell
[3] https://egyptartefacts.griffith.ox.ac.uk/people/arthur-s-hunt
[4] https://egyptartefacts.griffith.ox.ac.uk/node/1108