Village life of Ancient Egypt

Most information about ancient Egypt comes from research and exploration of tombs and temples. Although these structures and the treasures they hold are truly fascinating, examining only tombs, mummies, and treasures gives a biased view of the Egyptians as a morbid nation that was obsessed with death. Although dying was immensely important to the Egyptians, so was living! To fully understand these people, you need to look at their villages – the centres of their regular, everyday life.
Although the tombs were built of stone and meant to last forever, the villages were made of mud-brick and were not intended to last. Fortunately, researchers have identified several villages that somehow endured, providing valuable information about the Egyptian lifestyle. Unfortunately, these villages are mainly special settlements inhabited by the elite; as such they don’t necessarily give an accurate overview of the life of all Egyptians, rich and poor.
The most important villages are:

• Deir el Medina on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes in the south of Egypt. Amenhotep I of the 18th dynasty built Deir el Medina to house the workmen who constructed the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The village was occupied until the late 20th dynasty. Today the foundations of the village are still visible, including staircases, cellars, ovens, and elaborately decorated tombs, some virtually complete with mummies and treasures.
• Kahun in the Faiyum region dates to the Middle Kingdom and was built to accommodate the workmen who built the pyramid of Senwosret III, although it was inhabited for a number of years after the death of the king. The remains at the site are quite substantial, with three-quarters of the settlement foundations surviving, showing three styles of houses: mansions, large houses, and the equivalent of small terraces.
• Pi-Rameses is situated in the eastern Delta region and was the capital city of Ramses II of the 19th dynasty. The village covered an area of approximately 5 kilometres, and excavations at the site have uncovered a number of temples, palaces, and houses for the elite and their servants. The remains are very fragmentary because many building blocks were reused in later periods.
• Avaris, located very close to Pi-Rameses in the Delta, was the capital of the Hyksos kings from the second intermediate period (see Chapter 3). Many Asiatics (primarily from the Palestine, Syria, and Canaan region) lived at this site, which the village’s style of temples and houses reflected.
• Amarna, about halfway between Cairo and Luxor, was the home of Akhenaten from the 18th dynasty. The village stretches for a distance of approximately 7 kilometres and included a number of palaces and temples as well as army barracks, two settlement districts, and a workmen’s village similar to Deir el Medina. So many archaeological remains have been found at this site that it is often used as a blueprint for all Egyptian settlements.

You can visit Deir el Medina on the west bank at Luxor and see the layout of the whole settlement. The more adventurous tourist can visit Amarna in Middle Egypt. The archaeologists have reconstructed some sample buildings to give the gist of what it may have looked like.