Shop Japan The Valley of the Queens & Deir el-Medina

The Valley of the Queens & Deir el-Medina

The Valley of the Queens occupies the extreme southern part of the Theban necropolis – located beneath the southern flank of the sacred mountain – the Qurn – and approximately a half kilometer west of the workmen’s village of Deir el-Medina. The site was founded in the 18th dynasty, first acting as a burial ground for royal children and high dignitaries from the court. During the 19th and 20th dynasties, the valley was to become exclusively a cemetery for members of the royal family.

The settlement of Deir el-Medina was home to the royal artisans – the crews of men who excavated and decorated the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens during the New Kingdom. Today, the village comes alive for us through a wide variety of sources – from the archaeological finds from the houses and tombs, funerary inscriptions, stelae, statues and graffiti, as well as from the thousands of literary, administrative and personal records that were found here. The workman Sennedjem is known to have lived in the village during the reign of Seti I and into the early part of that of Ramesses II. This was a time of economic prosperity, both for the country at large and for the community of Deir el-Medina. The village cemetery contains some of the best examples of private tomb decoration in the entire Theban necropolis – hardly surprising given that their owners were responsible for the magnificent royal tombs of the age.