The site consists of two hills (a feature from which the site gets its name), and there was a town below the east hill. On the east hill is a temple of Hathor dating back to the Third dynasty. This was rebuilt in the Middle Kingdom and was still in use in the Ptolemaic Period.
Tombs, mainly of the First Intermediate Period, are found on the west hill. Finds from the Predynastic period suggest that the cemetery at least was already in use then.
It was well known to travellers and as a source of anitiquities in the the nineteeth and early twentieth centuries. It was investigated by Maspero in 1885 and subsequently by several others. Schiaparelli conducted excavations there for over a decade from 1910. (See Ejsmond, 2016 for more details.)
Gebelein in Digital Egypt
Gebelein in Global Egyptian Museum
Gebelein - An Overview, 2016 Ejsmond, Wojciech. Academia.edu, 2016.
Gebelein in Artefacts of Excavation (The Griffith Institute)
Models by site for Gebelein