Deir el-Medina Pictures and Maps ~ Ancient Egypt Facts

July 30, 2013

Deir el-Medina Pictures and Maps

Valley of the Workmen
Today the name Deir el-Medina is used to indicate the valley with the village and necropolis of all the workmen who built and decorated the royal tombs of Thebes.

These were the stonecutters, masons, painters and sculptors who every day made their way to the royal necropolis through a path leading over the hills of Deir el- Bahari. The women remained in the village, cultivating the wheat and barley. The teams of workmen were directed by overseers (architects or artists of various kinds). The painters were divided into two groups: those who worked on the right-hand wa and those who worked on the le hand walls. The houses of these workers were extremely simple dwellings. Built of dried brick, whitewashed inside, they were, very small with a tiny entrance hall, one room and a kitchen. Sometimes, but not often, they had a cellar and a terrace.