In the West district (left of the map) of this huge funeral city which covered 14.7 hectares, a quantity of non-Egyptian objects coming from Syria and Cyprus was recovered, testifying of a significant presence of Amorite people in Egypt on the beginning of 19th century B.C. (Twelfth Dynasty), Middle Kingdom in Egypt). This first phase of installation of a group of emigrating "Asiatics" (Amorites) could correspond to the arrival of the tribe of Jacob welcomed by Joseph minister of Pharaoh as mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 45: 14, 46, 47-11).
This part of the city had sheltered the service staffs working in the twelve palaces of the East district of the city which sheltered the high officials and the administrative services of Egypt.
These high personalities were some princes close parents of the defunct pharaoh, in charge of maintaining his cult in the temple of the pyramid. His successor Pharaoh Sesostris III had made of it a royal fortress and administrative capital of his kingdom. Its location at the entrance of the Fayum oasis near the big lake of Moeris and at midway between the delta and the rest of Egypt allowed the city to be easily supplied by the channel of the Bahr Youssef (Channel of Joseph) which joined it to the Nile. It allowed also to control the productions of this particularly fertile region, a real reserve of grains and pastures for livestock. The very particular structure of the interior of the twelve big palaces of the East district led ancient authors to designate this giant architectural complex as "the Labyrinth of Egypt."
The site was dug at the end of the 19th century A.D. by Flinders Petrie. Today it is only an immense field of sherds.
A family grave have been dug from a cellar of one of the palaces of the western part of the city (see on the map above in the right bottom). It was called "the Maket tomb" from the name of its more ancient owner called "Maket, the lady of the house". Near her coffin were some remains of baskets of woven fibers of Nubian style.