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 purchased papyri during this excavation season which they thought had come from el-Hibeh. The Graeco-Roman cemetery to the north of the town wall had not been systematically excavated. They note that early Ptolemaic mummies were in limestone or painted wooded sarcophagi and there was a substantial amount of cartonnage recovered.