The village of Mesheikh marks the southern-most limit of the extensive cemeteries in the Naga ed-Dêr region that stretch about six kilometers downstream from Mesheikh to Sheil Farag. George Reisner carried out intermittent excavations in the district, first on behalf of the University of California and, from 1905, for Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Much of the material from these excavations has never been described.

The remains of 71 skeletons, which are curated at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, were studied in 1996. Only one of these individuals, a male probably greater than 50 years of age at the time of death, was represented by post-cranial bones in addition to the skull. The prevalence of fractures in this skeleton is likely the reason why the post-cranial bones were collected.

A detailed report on the human remains housed at Berkeley is forthcoming. Publication of this report within a monograph on Mesheikh has been delayed due to the untimely death of the monograph's author, Dr. William Ward.