The temple was discovered in 1904 by the German Egyptologist
Georg Schweinfurth. Further excavations were carried out in 1909 by
Flinders Petrie where he found inscribed limestone fragments from a doorframe bearing the names of
Mentuhotep III which are now in the
Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in
Leiden. Petrie was the first to recognize that the stone remains of an earlier temple lie beneath the temple. Schweinfurth and Petrie found fragments of baboon statues of the god
Thoth, which led to the mountain's modern name. Thoth may also have been worshipped here. Between 1995 and 1998, Hungarian excavations under Győző Vörös and Rezső Pudleiner took place. The excavations completely uncovered the later Nile mud-brick temple, examined the stone remains of the older temple beneath the Nile mud floor, and suggested a date before the 11th Dynasty. This stone temple would thus be the oldest known Theban temple. The older stone temple is comparable in plan and size to the later temple. However, the first temple had only one sanctuary. An alabaster vessel, sacrificial bowls, terracotta animal figurines, and the remains of slaughtered animals were found in the foundation pits at the four corners of the temple. The site and its temple were the starting point of a desert road to
Middle Egypt. Approximately 130 meters west, another building was discovered that probably served as accommodation for travelers and pilgrims. == Gallery ==