Deir el-Medina village housed skilled artisans who built Valley of the Kings tombs for 400 years

January 31, 2026EgyptGeneralShare

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Key facts

• Deir el-Medina ancient name: Set Maat (place of truth or justice)
• Purpose-built state-run settlement housing artisans for nearly 400 years, roughly 1550 to 1080 BCE
• Founded during Thutmose I or possibly Amenhotep I; reached peak during Ramesses period
• Village enclosed by 6-meter-high mud brick wall with controlled gates at north and south ends
• Workers paid in monthly grain rations supplemented with beer, vegetables, and occasional meat
• Two main work groups: workers on left and workers on right, divided labor by tomb sides
• Workers possibly blindfolded when taken to tombs to prevent remembering locations
• In 1156 BCE during Ramesses III reign, grain rations failed to arrive; workers laid down tools and marched on Waset in first documented labor strike in human history (Turin Strike Papyrus)
• Village had western cemetery where workers buried themselves
• Foreman Inherka's tomb dated to 20th dynasty contains Book of Gates and Book of Dead scenes
• Large cache of written documents found in pit: letters, grocery lists, daily life records providing rare evidence of common Egyptian life

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