The Fayum region of Egypt was one of the main centers of Greek colonization (circa 332 B.C.-400 A.D.). Papyri were first found there in 1877, but archaeological excavations did not begin in earnest until the late 1880s. In 1896-7 Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt found a large cache of papyri at Oxyrhynchus (modern Behneseh), Egypt. Their finds were published in a series of reports funded by the Egypt Exploration Fund, in part through the sale of memberships to individuals and institutions.