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most of the funerary goods used in those tombs, including sarcophagi, coffins, stele, canopic jars and chests and the often elaborate and highly decorated everyday' goods such as furniture, board games and weapons that formed an essential part of any royal burial in the New Kingdom. The village was closely guarded to prevent tomb robbery (which didn't really work...), and had an underclass of people who maintained the village's water supply, washing and other more menial tasks as they were miles from the Nile, water had to be carried there in large jars every day.

Although Deir el Medina provides an intriguing glimpse into the lower-class lifestyle, it should be noted that the village is almost unique in the respect that it was owned and operated by the state, for a very specific function. It was not a natural' village, it was built with a purpose and strictly organised. Also, many of the residents appear to have been literate, an unusual circumstance that has left Egyptologist with numerous scraps of writing ranging from laundry lists to love letters and court proceedings. Most lower class Egyptians were not literate, this community of craftsmen may have owed its literacy to the fact that their various professions (which included tomb draftsmen and artists) required a certain knowledge of writing to work to a standard acceptable in a royal or high ranking official's tomb.

Outside of the Workmen's Village, less important and specialised settlements were scattered up and down the Nile. The location of Deir el Medina is largely responsible for its preservation it is in the desert. Many other villages were built along the narrow strip of farmland, often on little hills or koms' that are still lived on today, making archaeology difficult. Add to this the fact that the annual inundation of the Nile has only stopped in recent years, and the general fragility of mud brick and you have the reason why so much more is known about village life in Deir el Medina than in an average' ancient Egyptian village they rarely survive as a unit. However, the surviving examples of peasant houses show that they were small, often consisting of two or three small rooms, one of which may have been a kitchen. Depictions of peasant homes in tombs often show the residents living, working and sleeping on the roof, which would probably have been much more comfortable than sleeping indoors.

There are numerous tomb paintings which show farmers tilling the fields (sometimes for the benefit of their masters), raising wheat and barley as well as leeks, onions and lettuces. During the growing season, the Egyptian peasant worked on his land. During the Inundation when the land was flooded, many were enrolled to work on royal projects such as mortuary temples or, famously in the Old and Middle Kingdoms the pyramids. This meant they were paid a state wage for the time they were not actively engaged in farming and producing their own food, and meant that the royal works' were accomplished.

However, it was possible for a peasant to move upwards socially in a manner of speaking. A man could apprentice his son to a craftsman or even send him to scribal school, and that way the family would benefit from increased earnings and marriage prospects. Ancient Egyptian society sometimes seems more static that it actually was, thanks to texts that exhort people (especially commoners) to be content with their lot, happy in the knowledge that they were upholding the natural order of things as set out by the gods and guided by the pharaoh. In reality, it is likely that there was plenty of upwards movement, education, marriage and the army providing means for the upwardly mobile to increase their status.

Learn more about this author, Becky Mason.
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