Egypt
Heritage Key (Malcolm Jack)
- Deir El-medina In The Days Of The Ramesses
The Louvre Thanks to ongoing toothache and the inevitably resulting sleepless nights I have been pottering around some websites that I don't usually visit very often. I have found one or two old and newer items that, although hardly news, may be of...
- Gully In The Valley Of The Kings
drhawass.com One that I missed from the end of March. With photographs. In the area in the cliffs between the tombs of Ramesses II and Merenptah, Hawass and his team have found a man-made drainage channel that probably helped prevent the flooding of the...
- More Re Finnish Work In The Valley Of The Kings
Science Daily If you missed the University of Helsinki article at the end of January you will find it repeated at the above Science Daily page. The team is directed by Jaana Toivari-Viitala, Docent of Egyptology at the University of Helsinki. Her research...
- More Re Work Of University Of Helsinki In The Valley Of The Kings
Science Daily The first field season is now over at the hut village of the workmen who built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. However, the archaeologists working on the excavation have found that they still have a great deal to do. The sun, the wind...
- Travel: Luxor And Aswan
Egypt Today (Megan Detrie) Sites that don’t get nearly as much tourist traffic include the tombs of the nobles, which have stunning wall paintings; Deir El-Medina (the Valley of Artisans), home to the artists, craftsman and workers employed by the Pharaohs;...
Egypt
Feature: Servants in the Place of Truth
Heritage Key (Malcolm Jack)
For almost 500 years – from the 16th to 11th century BC – tombs, many of the elaborate and ornate, were constructed in the Valley of the Kings for the rulers and powerful nobles of the Egyptian New Kingdom. Needless to say, the civilization’s top dogs didn’t roll up their sleeves and do the work themselves. So who did?
Like the pyramids, the tombs of the Valley of the Kings were built by skilled labourers and artisans, who came to the site in the Theban Mountains every day from Deir el-Medina, a specially-built village that lay just south of the valley within easy walking distance. Founded at the earliest during the reign of Thutmosis I (c. 1506-1493 BC) Deir el-Medina’s ancient name was Set Maat which translates as “The Place of Truth”. The workmen themselves were known as “Servants in the Place of Truth”.
They were a mixture of Egyptians, Nubians and Asiatics from across the kingdom, each free citizens. The artisans were middle-class and among the most skilled stone-cutters, plasterers, architects and alike in Egypt. Supporting them was a team of manual workers – water-carriers and cooks – as well as their wives and families, and those involved in the administration and decoration of the tombs and temples. The artisans would be organised into two groups: gangs on left and right, who worked almost like a ship’s crew simultaneously on opposite sides of the tomb, while being overseen by a foreman.
- Deir El-medina In The Days Of The Ramesses
The Louvre Thanks to ongoing toothache and the inevitably resulting sleepless nights I have been pottering around some websites that I don't usually visit very often. I have found one or two old and newer items that, although hardly news, may be of...
- Gully In The Valley Of The Kings
drhawass.com One that I missed from the end of March. With photographs. In the area in the cliffs between the tombs of Ramesses II and Merenptah, Hawass and his team have found a man-made drainage channel that probably helped prevent the flooding of the...
- More Re Finnish Work In The Valley Of The Kings
Science Daily If you missed the University of Helsinki article at the end of January you will find it repeated at the above Science Daily page. The team is directed by Jaana Toivari-Viitala, Docent of Egyptology at the University of Helsinki. Her research...
- More Re Work Of University Of Helsinki In The Valley Of The Kings
Science Daily The first field season is now over at the hut village of the workmen who built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. However, the archaeologists working on the excavation have found that they still have a great deal to do. The sun, the wind...
- Travel: Luxor And Aswan
Egypt Today (Megan Detrie) Sites that don’t get nearly as much tourist traffic include the tombs of the nobles, which have stunning wall paintings; Deir El-Medina (the Valley of Artisans), home to the artists, craftsman and workers employed by the Pharaohs;...