Deir el –Medina Place of Truth
Life of the common man
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Deir el- Medina Uncovered
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Evidence
• Housing and decoration
• Temples and altars
• Tombs of the Kings
• Tombs of the villagers
• Ostraca
• Surviving literature, including Tale of Sinuhe
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Deir el- Medina
• Founded by Amenhotep1, 18th dynasty, during New Kingdom, ca 1525 B.C
• Tutmosis 1 (ca 1500B.C ) builds the first wall
• Located near the Valley of the Kings, west of Thebes, across the Nile
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Location of Deir el-Medina
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Tombs of the Kings-Thutmose 111
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Community of Craftsmen
• In use for over 500 years• Approximately 100 inhabitants plus children• Known names include- Kha the architect -Ramose the scribe -Kenherkopershef the
historian• Workers for the tomb builders, but other
workmen included gardners, fishermen, potters and handymen
• Specialized jobs included painters, plasterers, sculptors, foremen and scribes
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Social Structure of Egypt
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Organization of Workgangs
Vizier
Captains of the Village
Chiefs of the Gangs-2 foremen
Scribe of the Tomb
Guardians of the tomb
Two deputieseldest sons of foremen
Servants of the tomb-gang
Servants of the tomb-gang
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Craftsmen of Egypt
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Housing
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Artists reconstruction of workmens houses
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About 100 homes, were plain and made of mudbrick, mostly single storey
• The average family consisted of father, mother, and two to four children. Relatives who had fallen on hard times may have shared their flat, as may have, in the more affluent households, a small number of servants. The living space per person seems to have been between five and fifteen square metres. As the man was often away for the whole work week, the overcrowding was not quite
as bad most of the time.
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Furniture
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Temples and Altars- The Temple of Hathor
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Temples of the West Bank
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Private Tombs
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Tomb Entrance
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Sennedjem’s Tomb
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Tomb of Sennedjem
Discovered in tact in 1886, it displayed the conventional funerary imagery, as well as Sennedjem and his wife in their daily life.
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Tombs of the Foremen, Inerkhau and Pashedu
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Ostraca
• Thousands of ostraka have been found
• They include letters, notes, records and evidence of daily life
• Most are written in hieratic, a short hand version of heiroglyphs
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Ostraca showing orders for yarn and wood for a king’s tomb
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Women of Deir el- Medina
• Thou shouldst not supervise they wife in her house, when thou knowest she is efficient. Do not say to her: 'Where is it? Fetch it for us!' when she has put it in the most useful place. Let thine eye have regard, while thou art silent, that thou mayest recognize her abilities."
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Recreation&
Story telling
Building techniquesIn the New Kingdom
Literacy levels other
than scribes Significance
Of religionTo lower classes
Evidence of disputes and
labour relations
Skill ofdifferent craftsmen
Life of lowerClass
Egyptians
Evidence of the role of women
Importance Of
Deir el-Medina