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Deir-el Medina |
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One of the highlights of the west bank at Thebes is the workers
village of Deir-el Medina. This amazing array of houses gives
an amazing impression of what life was like for the people who
excavated and decorated the tombs in the nearby Valley of the
Kings.
The builders of the royal tombs were considered to be 'holders
of secrets' and were kept apart from the general population. This
was probably a wise precaution as the builders would have inside
knowledge of the positions of the royal tombs, both those under
construction and also those which were accidentally broken into
during excavation work.
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This chap is Inherka, and his is one of the finest tombs preserved
in the Valley of the Artisans. Inherka was 'Deputy master of
the two lands in truth square' during the reigns of Ramesses
III and Ramesses IV. He was responsible for the coordination
of the teams working in the royal valley. |
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Another fine tomb belonged to the 'Servant in Truth Square'
Sennedjen. Sennedjen's tomb was discovered in 1886 and was one
of the few intact tombs ever discovered in Egypt. This 19th Dynasty
tomb is considered by many to be the best in the Necropolis as
it was untouched since antiquity and the decoration in the main
chamber is substantially intact. This decoration includes the
famous image of Anubis attending to the tomb owner's mummy. |
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Sennedjen was a workman at Deir el Medina who lived
at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty. This is what Morris Bierbrier
says about his intact tomb in his little book "The Tomb-builders
of the Pharaohs": "His mummy, coffins and funerary
equipment were recovered as well as those of his wife, Iineferti,
his sons Khons, his daughter-in-law Tameket, and a lady Isis
who may have been a granddaughter or daughter-in-law, or both
if she married her uncle. Coffins and funerary objects of other
members of the family were also found. The tomb had evidently
been used for two generations of family burials. The objects
were all taken to Cairo, but were unfortunately dispersed before
adequate documentation was compiled. Sennedjen and his wife who
had lain side by side for millennia were rudely divorced. as
were their son, Khons, and his wife Tameket. Iineferti and her
son, Khons, were awarded to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York, where their coffins now rest. Their mummies, however,
were transferred to the Peabody Museum in Cambridge, Mass. Tameket
journeyed to the Berlin Museum, while her father-in-law, Sennedjen,
remained behind in Cairo. Some of the minor finds were also kept
in Cairo but others were scattered to Paris, Copenhagen and Moscow."
Gaston Maspero, himself, excavated the tomb. A Spaniard, Eduardo
Toda, made the most detailed notes of the discovery although
by modern standards these were woefully inadequate. |
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