Qarāra is located 10km north of the site of Šārūna/Kūm al-Aḥmar Sawāris. The site includes a modern village which lies between the foot of the Ğabal Qarāra and the Nile. To the south of the settlement is a Muslim cemetery, and to the south of that is the modern Coptic cemetery, in use from the 19^th century. The modern settlement and both of these cemeteries are built on top of the ancient Coptic cemetery, which appears to extend some 450 meters from north to south and 350 meters east to west (Huber 2008: 55). The 1926 publication describes two cemeteries, one in the north, and one in the south, which are now understood to have been the extremities of this single cemetery. While there remains a large area to the south which is not obstructed by modern structures, looters have destroyed the integrity of much of the ancient remains.

The graves fall into two distinct categories: (1) rock-cut burial chambers built into the ǧabal, containing multiple interments, and (2) shallow graves dug into the sand, generally containing single interments (Ranke 1926: 15; Huber 2008: 56, 57). Most of these date from the Late Roman period, but there were a number of earlier graves, almost all of which were reused (Huber 2008: 58). These included two shaft graves from the Late or Ptolemaic period which contained several mummiform coffins, accompanied by shabtis as well as wooden figures depicting Anubis and Ptah Sokar Osiris (Huber 2008: 57).

While the information published about the early excavations is limited, it appears that the work in the first year (1913) was concentrated on three places: (1) immediately north of the Muslim cemetery, east of the settlement ruins, (2) in the ǧabal foothills, and (3) southeast of the modern Coptic cemetery (Huber 2008: 59). These areas remained the focus in the second year (1914) and were partially expanded; the area to the north is now covered by modern graves (Huber 2008: 59). The cemetery appears to have had at least two occupancy periods, but they do not differ by burial type or the material found (Huber 2008: 70).

The dead are all extended supine, with their arms parallel to their body, oriented east-west with their heads to the west (Ranke 1926: 2). Several shrouds are often present, made of undyed and undecorated linen, all of which was finally covered with a palm mat (Huber 2008: 64). Many of these textiles were piled up over the face, creating somewhat of a roof-like structure, which were then adorned with colourful ribbons in criss-cross patterns (Ranke 1926: 3; Huber 2008: 57). Unfortunately, only the textiles that were decorated were kept by the early excavators. Many of the interments were accompanied by grave goods, including various items of jewelry and amulets, fragments of wooden combs, as well as a man, presumed to have been a scribe, who was buried with an inkpot and a leather pen case containing reed pens, others were buried with instruments (Grenfell, Hunt 1902-3: 3; Huber, 2008: 66). A number of inscribed wooden tablets were also uncovered by Grenfell and Hunt, one of which contained the beginning of St. Matthew’s gospel in Sahidic (Grenfell, Hunt 1902-3: 4). An additional unique find was the “Peacock Coffin”, the only painted Coptic coffin uncovered to date (Ranke 1926: 3-4; Huber 2008: 58). This coffin, and others which have since been found, have a unique triangular feature over the head (Huber 2013: 78). Coffins with this pyramidal feature have only been found here, at Qaṣr al-Banāt, Tebtunis and Saqqāra (Huber 2013: 81)

The ancient remains of the site are not restricted to graves, with traces of buildings also identified in the northwest corner of the excavation area. Because the structure would have been situated in the middle of the cemetery, Ranke suggested that perhaps it was a monastery, and this classification has since gone unquestioned in the relevant literature, although there is limited evidence to support such a claim (Ranke 1926: 16; Huber 2008: 58). The only potential indications of the presence of a sacred building in this area is a tower standing 150 meters south of the structure identified by Ranke, with 1.10m thick walls (Huber 2008: 61; Huber 2012: 81). The structure does not appear to have been accessible via the ground floor and must have instead been accessed with the help of an external staircase, like that seen at Dayr al-Qarābīn in Šārūna/Kūm al-Aḥmar Sawāris, or a ladder (Huber 2012: 82). This is in addition to a grave stela uncovered with the word ‘Apa’, an honorary title attributed to a spiritual individual, namely monks (Huber 2012: 81).

East of the ancient cemetery, situated on a somewhat levelled-out area of the ǧabal, are three settlement points which have been identified thanks to ceramic, scattered mud-bricks, the foundations of walls, and clay floors (Ranke 1926: 7; Huber 2008: 60). To the north of this are evidence of settlement and graves on a small terrace of about 150x150m. To be located in such a place, accessed only by a narrow and steep path, raises a number of questions. Was it a small hermitage, or perhaps an observation post? The vantage point one has here perhaps argues in favour of the latter (Huber 2008: 60-61). Further south along the ǧabal, at Maġāʾwir al-Hīb, are numerous traces of settlement, including numerous caves (as the name suggests) considered to have been furnished dwellings (Huber 2008: 61).