the hill of Gurnet-Murai, lives the workmen who built the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The authorities of the New Kingdom were quick to realize that the only way to avoid robbery in the royal necropolis was to keep its location secret and inaccessible. Past experience had shown that the tomb builders themselves might be easily bribed to disclose the location and contents of the tombs.It was therefore decided to create an isolated community of skilled workmen, and confine them to a village that could be be guarded effectively against unwarranted entry of outsiders or unobserved exit of its inhabitants to populated areas.The site is presently known as Deir el-Medina, but the workmen knew it as Pa-demyt (the Village). A thirty minute walking distance along a rough winding path over the desert hills separated the village from the Valley of the Kings.
Generations of workmen with their families lived at Deir el-Medina for almost 300 years, surrounded by a high brick enclosure whose single entrance was guarded by a team of gatekeepers working in shifts. Normally the village consisted of sixty family dwelling, mostly located on either side of a narrow main path. The tombs of the workmen were cut onto the slopes of the hill which flanks the valley on the west of the village. Since the men were busy building and decorating the royal tombs, while other members of their families were confined to the village, it was up to the state to look after practically all their basic necessities, including drinking water. Specialized suppliers (fishermen, firewood gatherers, vegetable cultivators, water carriers, etc) were assigned to supply fresh goods, whilst the main provisions, consisting primarily of grain, fat and salt, were distributed monthly. The village was administered by three captains consisting of two foreman and a scribe. The working "week" (8 day out of 10) was spent by the workmen at the Valley of Kings while the "weekends" and festive days were spent in the village with their families.
Due to their imposed isolation, the members of the community had to perform communal duties that were ordinarily in the hands of specialists. Thus they took turns in serving the gods in the village chapels, and performed embalming and funerary services for their dead. They served in their local tribunal as judges of their fellow workmen. They intermarried among themselves and taught their work and the uniqueness of their status, a certain esprit de corps developed among the workmen which drove them, in extreme cases of discomfort, to the earliest cases of strikes in history.
Since the workmen were qualified tomb builders and had access to first quality decorating materials, they naturally prepared for themselves impressively decorated tombs. The tombs that are presently accessible belonged to Pashed and Paynedjem, and Inherkhau (20th Dynasty). A few cult chapels served the religious needs of the workmen, and their remains resituated beyond the northern exit of the village. On that same site, a massive temple for the goddess Hathor was built in Graeco-Roman period, long after the village was deserted. A very deep pit in the ground, further to the north, bears evidence to an unsuccessful attempt on the part of the workmen to tap the underground water table During the Christian era, the site was inhabited by monks and acquired its present name.