DEIR EL-MEDINA
Tucked in away in an isolated fold of the Theban mountain lived the people from the Dier el-Medina. It was a town composed of skilled sculptors and artists who worked on the royal tombs. This village is arguably the best-known community from the Ancient Near East (National Geographic, 2000). The most intimate details of village life are unearthed because the workers always jotted down their thoughts on limestone chips from The Valley of the Kings as scrap paper. Another characteristic that makes this village fundamentally different is that when the vizier told the news that the Pharaoh has died, the villagers rejoiced with happiness. The reason being is because when the Pharaoh died; a new tomb would be constructed and thus creating new job opportunities (Tour Egypt, 1999)
TOMB ROBBERY
Determined tomb robbers, driven by greed, plundered all the tombs in the Valley except Tutankhamen’s. The outbreak in crime occurred in 1090 BC named the Hyena year, when famine gripped the heart of the empire at Thebes and as the economy collapsed, crime rates soared and tomb robbers started to emerge. (Spence K, 2002). Robbing a tomb signifies gatecrashing the Pharaoh’s survival in the afterlife. The main objective for tomb robbers is to steal all the gold in the tomb. Much of the gold is embedded in wooden artefacts and especially inside the sarcophagus. Papyri reveal that looters would go to the limit and torch the tomb of the mummy to be certain everything including the mummy disintegrates leaving the gold behind (Discovery Channel, 2002). The robbers were tortured by the beating of hands and feet with a double rod called the ‘birch and the screw punishment’ and the Pharaoh always attended to witness the punishment. The ultimate punishment was impalement which was the process of shoving the accused into a series of long sharp sticks resulting in a very slow painful death (Oakes L, 2001).
TOMB SITES
The changes in tomb location and construction begun when Thutmose I hid his tomb in the limestone cliffs beyond the Deir el-Bahri, resulting the Pharaoh to break a 1200 year old tradition in royal tomb construction. Since his example, he has influenced 62 other pharaohs from the 18th to 20th Dynasties in The Valley of the Kings. In the first half of the 18th dynasty, tombs such as Amenhotep II were buried high atop inside the dense limestone cliffs whereas at the end of the 19th century, tombs such as Seti I and Ramesses the Great, were buried rear the cleft of the rock which subjected to damage by floodwater (World Book, 2002). The tombs in The Valley differ from the Pyramid Age. Firstly the tombs are not built in mudbrick or stone but cut into the mountainside. The interior chambers of the Pyramids are small and undecorated whereas the passage and burial chambers of rock-cut tombs are much larger. The viziers were always involved in the selection process. Some factors that were taken into consideration were: the quality of rock stratum, the accessibility and the security of the site (Oakes L, 2001).
TOMB DECORATION
It is not really accurate to use the term decoration in terms of the paintings and reliefs on tomb wall. No art was done for art’s sake. The purpose was to produce the means by which the pharaoh would come alive again. The text and scenes on the walls were magical spells for the king to find his way to the afterlife with ease after his journey through the underworld. Characters that were drawn to signify the underworld were usually unearthly, alien-like beings such as personified snakes or a half hippopotamus and half crocodile. Pigments for paints came primarily from natural minerals. White was made from gypsum; a chalky substance made of calcium, red and yellow from different types of iron, black from charcoal, blue and green from copper found in the eastern dessert.
The picture below is a represented as an Egyptian map of the universe. This painting shows the sun-god Re travelling through the Underworld in his solar barque. The bottom shows a barque filled with several gods such as Ra and Osiris in the presence of each other. This painting is situated in the tomb wall of Seti I.
TUTANKHAMEN AND ARTEFACTS
On the 1st of November 1921, Howard Carter discovered the most spectacular find in the Valley of the King; the tomb of Tutankhamen. The tomb is hard evidence that 3, 500 years ago, The Valley was filled with the most valuable treasures in the world. After the first fifteen steps to the tomb was unearthed, something came to light that no archaeologist has ever seen before: the royal seal was still intact (National Geographic, 2001).
TUTANKHAMEN AND ARTEFACTS
The tomb was filled with over 5000 priceless treasures and Carter did no other archaeologists did, he photographed and catalogued every single object in the tomb until it was transported back to the Egyptian Museum. These artefacts included the iconic funerary mask in solid gold inlaid with semi precious stones, the famous painted box which depicts Tutankhamen in his chariot battling Syrians, the burial chamber, modest in size, containing the 2 m and 1.2 tonne sarcophagus and another prominent artefact named the gilded wooden throne portraying Tut and his wife, Ankehsenamun in a ritual; all were made of gold (Top Foto, 2006)
TOURISM
When tourists disgorge into The Valley, a sense of eternity prevail the site (Oakes, L 2001). 200 to 400 tourists used to visit The Valley daily and this number has increased to around 4, 000 to 5, 000 tourists daily. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, “25, 000 tourists will visit the site by 2015” (Tour Egypt, 1999). Few attempts have been implemented to solve the issues with tombs and the increasing number of tourists is threatening this chance. Tour guides now have to lecture outside the tomb where the tourists proceed into a single file through the tombs; this dramatically reduces the risk of damage. Some plans to help preserve The Valley include: installing fibre optic lighting, environmental controls to stop perspiration, systematic trash collection and an interpretative centre for visitors (Theban Mapping Project, 1997-09).
CONCLUSION
With the destruction caused by tomb robbers, flash flooding and careless human activities, The Valleys future may be uncertain but the promise of new discoveries continues to attract archaeologists from all over the world. A resting place for more than 60 Pharaohs, the Valley of the Kings’ history is vital for the understanding of the civilisation that has greatly shaped the society today. If another royal tomb is still hidden then it will be a matter of time before it is brought to light; not only would it reveal treasures of materialism but treasures of information.
PICTURE REFERENCES
Historical Background
Figure 1.0 – General map of location of the Valley of the Kings
Screenshot from video source: Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
Geographical Features
Figures 2.1 and 2.2 – extreme long shot of the vicinity of the Valley of the Kings
Screenshot from video source: Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
Security
Figure 3.0 - Geology of a cliff
Uploaded by: Rasmab, Date uploaded: Jan 28, 2006, website:
Figure 3.1 - Aerial view shot of The Valley
Astra Corporation, Egyptology Online 2001-08, Valley of the Kings,
Dier el-Medina
Figure 4.0 - The ghost town of Deir el-Medina
Screenshot from video source: Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
Figure 4.1 - A limestone chipping with scripture
Tomb robbery
Figure 5.0 - A computerized perception of the punishment
Screenshot from video source: Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
Tomb sites
Figure 6.0 - Location of tombs
Oakes L 2001, Sacred Sites of Ancient Egypt, Lorenz Books, pg. 95-113
Figure 6. 1 - Interior chamber inside a pyramid
Figure 6.2 - Interior chamber of a rock-cut tomb
Architecture
Figure 7.0 - L shaped tomb plan
Figure 7.1 - straight axis tomb plan
Tomb Decoration
Figure 8.0 - Personified snake
Screenshot from video source: Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
Figure 8.1 - Half Hippopotamus – half crocodile
Screenshot from video source: Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
Figure 8.2 - Drawing of a story of Re’s journey
Tutankhamen
Figure 9.0 - Entrance to Tutankhamun’s tomb
Figure 9.1-3
Tourism
Figure 10.0 - Tourists visiting The Valley
Screenshot from video source: Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Book:
National Geographic 2001, Ancient Egypt: Discovery of its Splendours, Washington, page 26.
Oakes L 2001, Sacred Sites of Ancient Egypt, Lorenz Books, pg. 95-113
Taber C 1996, The History of the Ancient and Medieval World: Egypt and Mesopotamia, vol. 6, pg. 266, Marshall Carvendish Corporation, New York.
World Book 2002, The World Book Encyclopaedia: The Valley of the Kings, vol 20, Chicago, Michigan
Primary sources (from Video source below):
Bob Brier, Long Island University, 2002.
Kate Spence, Cambridge University, 2002.
Website:
Egyptian Ministry of Touristm 1999, Burying the Pharoah in the Valley of the Kings.
Theban Mapping Project 1997-2008, The Valley Today. <http:/www.thebanmappingproject/articles_2.5> viewered 25 March 2009.
Topfoto 2003, Gallery Package - Tutankhamun, <http://www.topfoto.co.uk/aboutus/aboutus.htm> viewed 14 March 2009
Video:
Journey Through The Valley of the Kings, 2002, The Discovery Channel, Magma
