The Production of Private Ramesside Tombs Within The West Theban Funerary

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 JEH 1.
1
Also available online www.brill.nl
* I would like to thank Betsy Bryan, Violaine Chauvet, Ben Haring, Joseph
Manning, and David Warburton for reading drafts of this article and making help-
ful suggestions. Amber Myers Wells generously created the hieroglyphic tran-
scriptions. Ideas from this article were rst presented at the International Conference
of Egyptologists in Grenoble in 2004. A paper was also presented at the American
Research Center in Egypt annual meeting in New Jersey in 2006.
1
Helck, Wer Konnte sich ein Begrbnis in Theben-West Leisten?
2
Hayes, A Selection of Tuthmoside Ostraca from Deir El-Bahri, esp. 40.
PROFIT OR EXPLOITATION?
THE PRODUCTION OF PRIVATE RAMESSIDE TOMBS
WITHIN THE WEST THEBAN FUNERARY ECONOMY*
Kathlyn M. Cooney
Getty Research Institute
Abstract
Existing economic models for Egyptian craft activity are currently dominated by
theories of state redistribution, to the extent that market driven economic systems,
as evidenced in the ancient texts themselves, may have been overlooked. This arti-
cle examines New Kingdom textual material from western Thebes, reconsidering
how private tomb production might t updated economic models models that
allow for private sector, pre-modern and pre-capitalist market activity within any
redistributive state economic context.
* * * *
In a short article on the ability of the New Kingdom Theban elite
to purchase private tombs, Wolfgang Helck notes that state craft
workers attached to a royal workshop were allowed to engage in
on-the-side labor, beyond their state duties, and that they were
therefore allowed to accept payment for additional and private sec-
tor work.
1
He bases this conclusion on an 18th Dynasty ostracon
published by Hayes,
2
an ostracon documenting Senenmuts con-
struction of his second tomb, for which he utilized his own funds.
Helck suggests that the workers hired by Senenmut to build his
private tomb were state craftsmen normally employed in West Bank
workshops and that the ocials connected with (and having the most
access to) grain supplies were the most able to aord decorated
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 79
80 kathlyn m. cooney
Fig. 1 The Necropolis of Deir el Medina, showing courtyards, tomb shaft entrances,
and pyramids, Ramesside Period. (Authors photo)
3
These terms often overlap with each other in the literature. For the Polanyist
perspective, see Polanyi, Arensberg, and Pearson, eds., Trade and Market in the Early
Empires. For a primitive perspective, see Dalton, Primitive, Archaic, and Modern
Economies. For a substantivist perspective, see Janssen, Commodity Prices.
4
For the notion that redistribution is the best way to describe the ancient
Egyptian economy, see Janssen, Die Struktur der Pharaonischen Wirtschaft, 69-
74; Gutgesell, Arbeiter und Pharaonen, 181-83; Bleiberg, The Economy of Ancient
Egypt.
5
For similar discussions with regard to the ancient Classical world, see Manning
and Morris, eds., The Ancient Economy; Scheidel and von Reden., eds., The Ancient
tomb chapels made by these ocial craftsmen. Helcks conclusions
that ocials were required to pay for tomb construction and dec-
oration to state craftsmen out of their own pockets with grain or
other commodities, rather than the tomb being a benet of their
state position, is a powerful argument that many Polanyist, sub-
stantivist, or primitivist
3
scholars might nd problematic because
they conclude that the ancient Egyptian economy was redistribu-
tive and state controlled.
4
Helcks claim should be seriously con-
sidered, but without the baggage of outdated redistributionist theories:
5
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 80
profit or exploitation? 81
Economy. For updated economic theories applied to Mesopotamia, see Powell,
Preise. For an Egyptological re-evaluation, see Warburton, Work and Com-
pensation in Ancient Egypt.
6
Romer, Who Made the Private Tombs of Thebes?
7
Ibid., 212.
8
Porter and Moss, eds., Topographical Bibliography, Vol. I. For updates of Porter
and Moss and re-assignments of private tombs to or from the reign of Thutmose
IV, see Bryan, The Reign of Thutmose IV.
9
Wente and Van Siclen, A Chronology of the New Kingdom.
10
Romer, Who Made the Private Tombs of Thebes?, 211.
if private ocials were nancially responsible for their own tomb
chapels and burial chambers, who were they paying to build and
decorate these structures?
In a later article, Who Made the Private Tombs of Thebes,
6
John Romer claims that Deir el Medina texts connected to private
tomb production relate only to the creation of tombs in the village
itself (which will be shown in this article to be incorrect). In other
words, Romer maintains that relying on the west Theban docu-
mentation alone cannot prove Helcks statement that members of
state workshops earned a side living decorating private Theban
tombs. Instead Romer employs a statistical analysis of the numbers
of private tombs decorated through time, concluding that during
the 18th Dynasty and Ramesside Period, approximately eight dec-
orated private tombs were created every ten years in western
Thebes almost one tomb during each year.
7
Based on outdated
and now inaccurate reign assignments from Porter and Moss
8
as
well as the atypical chronology of Wente and van Siclen,
9
he con-
cludes that private tomb production was reasonably consistent
throughout time, suggesting to him a permanent work force for pri-
vate tomb production. Romer then links the Deir el Medina work-
ers with this hypothetical permanent work force although, according
to him, none of the numerous surviving Deir el-Medina work
records of the period mention this private tomb work. Examining
the archaeological data, Romer nds that the rate of production
of both royal and private tombs followed similar cycles of activity,
leading him to make the theoretical jump that this pattern must
have been reective of a permanent workforce that was directed
by a single authority.
10
According to him, that single authority
must have been the Deir el Medina craft organization, as it appears
foremost in west Theban textual sources. To Romer, therefore, sta-
ble and consistent tomb production is a clear marker of authoritarian,
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 81
11
Gutgesell, Arbeiter und Pharaonen.
12
Janssen, Prolegomena to the Study of Egypts Economic History. Janssen,
Die Struktur der Pharaonischen Wirtschaft.
13
For non-Egyptological scholarship on craft specialization, see the following:
Brumel and Earle, Specialization, Exchange and Complex Societies; Clark and Parry,
Craft Specialization and Cultural Complexity; Costin and Wright, Craft and Social
Identity, 3-16; Sinopoli, The Organization of Craft Production at Vijayanagara;
Stein, Heterogeneity, Power, and Political Economy.
14
For a review of theories associated with ancient Egyptian economic history,
see Cooney, The Cost of Death; Cooney, Value of Private Funerary Art.
state-run control. This theoretical leap is similar in its logic to those
of the quasi-structuralist Manfred Gutgesell
11
or the substantivist-
primitivist Jac Janssen,
12
who believe that stable prices are proof of
strict state control and/or redistribution systems. For Romer, tomb
building patterns that are consistent through time automatically
imply authoritative state control. However, what Romer does not
see is that these tomb building patterns actually mirror larger eco-
nomic movements between prosperity and recession, driven by a
number of socioeconomic and political factors, which would have
aected the entire population of western Thebes in both the state
and the private sectors.
This article expands this discussion of craft specialization and the
economic foundations of private tomb production in the New
Kingdom. It focuses on the textual evidence from Western Thebes,
including receipts, workshop records, legal suits, and letters, and
their relation to the production of private tombs in Western Thebes
during the Ramesside Period in order to ask the following ques-
tions: What was the actual cost of building and decorating a pri-
vate tomb and how does this compare to the costs of other funerary
materials? Did the Deir el Medina craftsmen decorate private tombs
as part of a formal gang organization?; or, were they working infor-
mally, as part of smaller community workgroups? And nally, how
did the role of Deir el Medina artisans within a formal, attached
craft-specialist group aect their work in informal, unattached, pri-
vate-sector settings?
13
Ultimately I question whether the craft work
described in documents available to us, carried out by the main
body of Deir el Medina artisans, might be representative of pri-
vate economic gain in a market economy, as opposed to exploita-
tion by gang leaders within a strict, authoritative, redistributive
system.
14
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 82
15
See P. Abbot, pg. 2, 1, in Peet, The Great Tomb-Robberies, 37, pl. 1, 2,1.
16
I would like to thank Rob Demare for his generous help with these dicult
terms. He provided many helpful references as well as information from his own
ongoing research (personal communication, October 2004).
17
O. Cairo 25243, 8 rt., O. Cairo 25501, 1 vs., O. Cairo 25517, 9, O. Cairo
25521, 6 vs., O. DeM 112, 2 vs., O. Ashmolean HO 183, 1-2 vs., O. Strasbourg
H. 174, 1-3 rt., O. Turin 57378, 4-7, P. Turin 2070 / 154, 5-6, col. II, vs.
18
O. Berlin 10666, 2-4 probably dates to the late Eighteenth Dynasty. This
text reads, Month 1 of prt, day 1. This day of beginning work of the men which
is in the sy tomb of the praised one, including Rn-snb. The Deir el Medina online
database translates, An diesem Tag: Beginn des Arbeitsprojekts der Mnner, die im
Grab des Geehrten sind. Namenliste davon: Rn-snb. The database includes the
note, Wohl nicht Name des Grabherrn, sondern (Beginn der) Namenliste. Merkwrdig
bleibt, weshalb die Liste nur 1 Eintrag ausweist. See www.uni-muenchen.de/
dem-online. For the word sy, also see Lesko, Dictionary of Late Egyptian, I, 52.
Private Tomb Lexicography
The craftsmen of Deir el Medina are widely credited with the cre-
ation and decoration of their own private tombs neighboring the
village. More open to discussion is whether these craftsmen also
decorated any of the many private tombs of ocials in Thebes and
adjacent areas during the 19th and 20th Dynasties. There are many
words connected with funerary architecture, including (m)aat, st-rs,
sy, nw, styt and mr. The nuances of meaning between these terms
are not completely clear, causing uncertainty as to what was being
produced, for whom and under what circumstances. For example,
the Tomb Robbery Papyri provide a number of words related to
various tomb elements, but the texts lack clarity concerning the
dierent designations. In one section, Peet can only vaguely trans-
late the terminology describing dierent parts or types of tombs: n
mrw syw maawt sp m hrw pn n n rww The pyramids, graves and
tombs examined this day by the inspectors.
15
These vague lexico-
graphical interpretations must be addressed before further consid-
eration of the systems of production is possible.
West Theban textual material contains at least 31 mentions of
private tombs (referred to as mr, (m)aat, sy, nw, or st-rs)
16
in a
socioeconomic context that is, as commodities that can be com-
missioned, bought and sold, or inherited. Eight of these examples
refer to the private tomb as a (m)aat

sfP
t
.
17
Only one west Theban
ostracon mentions the sy i_Y_P in a socioeconomic context, and
it is probably a word for tomb of pre-Ramesside date.
18
By the
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 83
19
Erman and Grapow, Wrterbuch, II, 49, 8-13. Lesko, Dictionary of Late Egyptian, I,
213.
20
For example, see Grandet, Catalogue des Ostraca Hiratiques . . . Nos. 831-1000,
no. 983. For the meanings of dwelling, resting place, chapel, temple, or
cellar, crypt, see Lesko, Dictionary of Late Egyptian, II, 179.
21
For the wst, see Spencer, The Egyptian Temple.
22
All Ashmolean ostraca were previously named O. Gardiner.
23
O. Ashmolean HO 152, O. DeM 248, P. DeM 16.
24
O. Ashmolean HO 132, O. Ashmolean HO 166, O. Berlin P 10637, and
perhaps O. BM EA 5637.
25
O. Ashmolean HO 23, O. Ashmolean HO 103, P. Berlin 10496 vs., P. BM
10055 vs. 1, 13, P. Bulaq 10, P. DeM 26B.
26
Cern and Gardiner, Hieratic Ostraca, 13, pl. 43, 4. Helck, Materialien zur
Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 337-38. Allam, Hieratische Ostraka und Papyri, 153-54, no. 49.
Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, VI, 663. McDowell, Village Life, 175-76 no. 30.
New Kingdom, t (m)aat seems to have been used to describe not
only rock cut tombs but also tombs with masonry built chapels.
The word (m)aat
19
is broad enough in meaning to refer to the entire
tomb complex, but the context of these economic records often
seems to describe only the decorated tomb chapel. Some of the
receipts and letters discussed below record a price for the decora-
tion of a particular amount of wall area in the (m)aat tomb, strongly
suggesting that, in the context of these transaction texts, only the
tomb chapel was meant, rather than the entire tomb. Considering
this, the most problematic aspect of the word (m)aat remains how
much of the private tomb it actually describes. It is not clear if the
word (m)aat refers to the entire tomb or only to the tomb chapel.
And if (m)aat does refer to the entire tomb, is there a word reserved
exclusively for the tomb chapel?
The nw n
WP is best translated as chapel,

20
but not every
chapel is necessarily funerary in nature. In socioeconomic texts from
western Thebes, the nw can be described with a wst forecourt,
21
as in O. Ashmolean HO 132.
22
The nw can be dedicated to the
deied Amenhotep I
23
or to other deities, such as the goddess Mut
(O. Deir el Medina 297). People can dwell (ms) in the nw, some-
times along with their animals.
24
But a nw can also belong to an
individual, as they can be passed on to the next generation in inher-
itance texts.
25
One such inheritance text, O. Ashmolean HO 23,
26
reads: [. . .] about the division of property of his father In-[. . .].
This broken introduction is followed by a list of names. Then at
the end of line 5, we read:
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 84
27
This Cairo ostracon is unpublished and numbered only by Cern. O. Cairo
[181], [154], and [182] all come from excavations by Mond at Sheikh abd el
Gurnah. Transcription from Cern, Unpublished Notebooks.
28
McDowell, Village Life, 69. Grandet, Catalogue des Ostraca Hiratiques . . .
Nos. 831-1000, 134-36, no. 964. Raisman, UC 31922. Keller, A Family Aair.
Cern, Troisme Srie de Questions Adresses Aux Oracles. Janssen and Pestman,
Burial and Inheritance, 137-70, esp. 62-63. For this type of tomb in west Theban
textual material, see O. DeM 198, O. DeM 789, O. DeM 964, O. IFAO 881,
and O. Univ. College 31922.
29
Cern, Troisme Srie de Questions Adresses Aux Oracles.
likewise his nw chapel and his at hut which is in the syt elds, and his ahat
tomb. And one gave the house of a-nt, his nw chapel, his aat tomb, his
at hut, which is in the syt elds to the crewman Msw. . . .
This text clearly dierentiates the nw chapel from the ahat tomb,
indicating that in this case, they are separate properties in space.
Therefore, not only can nw chapels be passed on in inheritance
texts, but they are set apart from other types of immovable prop-
erty, including the aat tomb, the at hut, and the pr house. This
makes it dicult to denitively associate the nw with the tomb
chapel belonging to the aat tomb. The nw can also be sold out-
right, as seen in the receipt O. Cairo [181]
27
where line 4 reads
the place next to his nw which he sold to me, making [. . .] dbn.
All of this evidence suggests that the word must have had a much
broader meaning than funerary chapel.
Still unclear in any of these socioeconomic texts, however, is
whether the nw chapel ever describes the funerary chapel of a
tomb or if the word only refers to non-funerary chapels. The one
association of the nw chapel with the wst in O. Ashmolean HO
132 seems to link this word more specically with a courtyard and
therefore perhaps a public chapel space, funerary or non-funerary.
Because of the broad meaning of this word, socioeconomic texts
with the nw will be included in the following analysis, but with
strong reservations about the words nature as a funerary space.
Another word associated with the private tomb is sty t
BiiP
t
or
styt t
BayP
t
, and it likely refers to the burial chamber.
28
O. IFAO 881
29
is a small ostracon with two lines, most probably
used in an oracle decision, reading, one gives/sells the styt bur-
ial chamber of Wa[- . . .]. This suggests it was possible to sell a
styt, or at least pass it on generationally, indicating that a burial
chamber was considered independent of its associated tomb chapel.
It also suggests the possibility that this particular tomb was of lower
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 85
30
Grandet, Catalogue des Ostraca Hiratiques . . . Nos. 706-830, vol. VIII, 61.
31
Erman and Grapow, Wrterbuch, II, 94, 15. Winlock, Tombs of Kings of
Seventeenth Dynasty at Thebes, esp. 25-26. Lesko, Dictionary of Late Egyptian, I,
225-26.
32
O. DeM 215, 3-4, O. DeM 586, 8, P. Bulaq X / P. Cairo 58092, 2 rt.,
P. Turin 2070 / 154, 5-6, col. II, vs.
33
For example in O. Petrie 18, 8 rt., and P. Bulaq X (P. Cairo 58092, 2 rt.).
34
Janssen and Pestman, Burial and Inheritance.
socioeconomic value and did not have a tomb chapel attached.
The Twentieth Dynasty letter O. Deir el Medina 789
30
also men-
tions a styt chamber and reads:
Recto: Please may you cause that Mry-smt build the st[y]t in few hours,
under the supervision of Mry-wnw. And may you carry [. . .] And may you
cause that one bring to [. . .]
Verso: Likewise one sh, some salted (?) meat and [. . .] sun bread
No price is mentioned, but the construction of the burial chamber
in this text seems to have been commissioned, perhaps in this letter.
The mr r
m
=P is usually translated as pyramid,
31
and the texts
show that it was also built, decorated, and passed on through gen-
erations. The specicity of this word is very problematic; it is not
clear whether the word mr refers to the small masonry built pyra-
mid, to the carved pyramidion atop it, or even to the painted
masonry chapel under this small pyramid. The mr pyramid usually
appears in a legal context in socioeconomic documents from west-
ern Thebes. There are four references in four dierent texts,
32
and
three of them are legal inheritance texts passing the pyramid, and
one would thus assume the entire tomb, on to the next generation.
Only Ostracon Deir el Medina 215 mentions the payment of mtnw,
recompense, to a draftsman for decoration work on a mr pyramid.
Another common name for a tomb type is the st-rs JP
t
r
P
,
literally place of burial, which probably denotes a space within
an already existing family tomb chamber or some small, undeco-
rated installation lacking a tomb chapel. This word is most often
mentioned in legal and inheritance texts.
33
In Papyrus Bulaq X
(P. Cairo 58092)
34
a son provides a st-rs for both his mother and
father, an act which grants him ownership of their property. A
st-rs does not seem to be an actual piece of property that could
be built, bought, or sold, but rather a reserved place of interment
within a larger burial property. No socioeconomic texts refer to the
construction or decoration of a st-rs burial place; only legal texts
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 86
35
Helck, Wer Konnte sich ein Begrbnis in Theben-West Leisten? Romer,
Who Made the Private Tombs of Thebes?
36
Eyre, Work and Organization of Work in the New Kingdom, esp. 197.
For a description of the Deir el Medina tomb architecture and decoration, see
Barthelmess, Der bergang ins Jenseits, 131-36. See also Keller, Royal Painters,
esp. 57. Also see Bruyre and Kuentz, La Tombe de Nacht-Min et la Tombe dAri-
Nefer. For a value judgment of these Deir el Medina tombs, Janssen, Commodity
Prices, 535.
37
Bruyre, Tombes Thbaines de Deir el Mdineh Decoration Monochrome.
38
Keller, The Draughtsmen of Deir el-Medina. Keller, How Many Draughts-
men Named Amenhotep?
use this particular label. It is not a commissioned funerary loca-
tion, but rather refers to a spot where a con set or mummy could
be placed.
Price Evidence for Private Sector Tomb Production
by Deir el Medina Artisans
After this brief lexicographical review, we can now return to the
remarks by Helck and Romer about private tomb construction.
Helck and Romer have both claimed that Deir el Medina artisans
did indeed work in the many private tombs of Western Thebes for
ocials of the state bureaucracy.
35
Given their specialization paint-
ing royal burial chambers, the craftsmen of Deir el Medina were
more than capable of creating and decorating their own private
tombs. Adjacent to the village was the workmens necropolis con-
taining 454 tombs of which 54 (about 12 %) have decorated chapels
or burial chambers.
36
Not all decorated tombs were fully poly-
chrome. Bernard Bruyre has documented many examples that
refrained from incorporating expensive pigments such as blue and
green.
37
Deir el Medina craftsmen decorated their own tombs to
be sure, but did they also craft those of the local Theban ocials,
and if so, under what circumstances?
Very few texts document the construction or decoration of pri-
vate tombs in the larger west Theban area. Candy Keller main-
tains that Deir el Medina workers used their skills to cut and
decorate nobles tombs outside of their village, and she proves this
by examining the stylistic similarities of Deir el Medina artists hands
in Theban Tomb 65 and Theban Tomb 113, among others, com-
paring them to signed gured ostraca or local Deir el Medina funer-
ary painting.
38
Egyptologists have yet to systematically examine the
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 87
39
Unpublished. See Cern, Unpublished Notebooks. Previously O. Gardiner
183.
40
The word ns seems to mean hair. See Hannig, Groes Handwrterbuch gyptisch-
Deutsch, 434. Erman and Grapow, Wrterbuch, II, 337. The word is also mentioned
in P. DOrbiney 3,2 (Gardiner, Late Egyptian Stories).
41
For a discussion of the dicult description terminology in this text, see Janssen,
Commodity Prices, 218.
42
For a discussion of the dn measure of area and a link to the ostraca from
the tomb of Senenmut, where the word is also used, see Ibid., 143.
43
Ibid., 101-02.
west Theban textual material concerning private sector tomb pro-
duction, probably because only very few texts mention the crafting
of private tombs with actual prices (see Table 1).
The undated O. Ashmolean HO 183
39
is one of only two receipts
that describe the purchase of work in a private (m)aat tomb:
Recto: List of all the commissions which the workman P-ra-tp did for
Imn-m-d.-ra-nb: 1 wt con, varnished, its n body part (?) being green
its ns (?)
40
being yellow orpiment (n )
41
making 40 dbn. Precious wood: 1
swt mummy board, varnished, and decorated making 25 dbn. List of the
work of the tomb (maat ) making [. . .]
Verso: while I was missing 28 dn
42
[m snm (?)] and remaining to him
are 72 dn making 4 dbn of silver. And I said to him: Give to me the 2
dbn of silver and you will take 2 dbn, and he said: it is [. . .]
The recto of this text records craft work of mobile funerary art
cons and mummy boards for a certain Amenem-diy-raneb. At
the end of the recto, the text moves on to the decoration of a
tomb, here called maat, probably belonging to this same man. Despite
the broken nature of this text, it seems clear that 4 dbn of silver
or 240-300 copper dbn depending on the silver to copper ratio
43
were to be paid for 100 dn of decoration work (a measure of area

to be painted). Only 2 silver dbn had been paid at that point for
72 dni of area, according to the text. Most interesting is the man
to whom all of this craft work was being sold: Amenem-diy-raneb,
a man without a craft title, and as far as the west Theban docu-
ments show, not associated with the Deir el Medina work crew.
He was probably an elite outsider coming to the village of Deir el
Medina for private craft work. Clearly, this document strongly
counters Romers claim that all west Theban textual material dealt
exclusively with tomb building conned to the craftsmens village
itself.
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 88
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JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 90
44
Cooney, The Cost of Death, chapter 4. Cooney, Value of Private Funerary Art,
203-19.
45
Lopez, Ostraca Ieratici, 3, 23, pl. 114. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, VII, 322.
46
Botti and Peet, Il Giornale della Necropoli, pls. 40-41.
47
Cern, Prices and Wages in Egypt in the Ramesside Period. Helck,
Wirtschaftsgeschichte des alten gypten, 231-32. Janssen, Commodity Prices, 455-93.
This Ashmolean ostracon describes a non Deir el Medina (m)aat
tomb, probably of average or below average size, and it is being
sold to an outsider of Deir el Medina. The price of 240-300 dbn
is much more expensive than the average cost of 30 dbn for a stan-
dard mummiform wt con or 40 dbn for a wt a outer con.
44
In
other words, the cost to paint an average sized west Theban tomb
chapel was at least 8 to 10 times more expensive than the aver-
age mummiform con sold by Deir el Medina workmen. One
could probably assume that tomb chapel decoration for highly
placed Theban elites was often much more expensive than what
we see in this text. For example, O. Turin 57368
45
preserves a
receipt for a wt con sold by the scribe of the tomb Hori, for a
large sum of 145 dbn. In another text, P. Turin Giornale 17B, lines
7-17 vs.,
46
an expensive con set is sold to a Chantress of Amen
by the name of Tanedjem, most probably not a Deir el Medina
resident. In this text, her inner con costs 200 dbn, the outer con
95 dbn, and the mummy board 34 dbn. If an elite individual could
aord to spend such sums on just one con set, it seems likely
that the price for tomb cutting and decoration would be propor-
tionally higher for this class of commissioner, and therefore total
much more than the 300 copper dbn recorded in the Ashmolean
text, probably even extending into the thousands of dbn.
Deir el Medina workmen earned 11-14 dbn of copper per month,
on average, at the going rates of exchange between grain and cop-
per known from the village.
47
The cost of the tomb chapel deco-
ration mentioned in the Ashmolean ostracon (240-300 dbn) accordingly
represents approximately 20 months wages. Given these costs, it
seems that very few Deir el Medina workmen could have aorded
such a tomb. Even with the extra income earned by painting cons
and other funerary items in the private sector, only the highest
ranking village scribes, crew leaders and draftsmen would have had
the means for such construction.
Because the Ashmolean ostracon quoted above probably docu-
ments work done for a Theban ocial (Amenem-diy-raneb) and
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 91
48
Lopez, Ostraca Ieratici, III, 26, pl. 118.
49
It is unclear if this 1 snw is meant to be the equivalent of the commodities
that come before it, or if it should be added to the grain amounts as part of the
total price for the work in the tomb. Because of this problem understanding the
text, the price for this tomb work is either 11 dbn or 14 dbn.
50
206-19.
51
Cern, Catalogue des Ostraca Hiratiques, III, 3, pl. 3. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions,
IV, 230. Allam, Hieratische Ostraka und Papyri, 103-04. McDowell, Village Life, 69.
not a Deir el Medina crewman, it is the best evidence we have for
village artisans performing tomb craft work in the private sector.
Another Nineteenth Dynasty Ostracon, O. Turin 57378, 4-7
48
states
that 11-14 dbn were paid for mtnw, or recompense for work done
in a private tomb (aat ):
What was given to him as recompense for the tomb (aa ): 1 thin dnw bas-
ket of a woman making 1 snw, 1 [basket object] making 2 pt, [. . .] mak-
ing 1 r, 2 pt, making 1 snw.
49
Line 4 of this text contains the formula What was given to him
as recompense for the tomb, followed by a number of commodi-
ties worth 11-14 dbn, the exact amount depending on how the com-
modity amounts listed at the end of the text should be understood
and added together. As is common with so many socioeconomic
texts, important details are left out: we do not know the exact
nature of the craft work, nor can the reader ascertain the amount
of craft work performed in this private tomb. Furthermore, no indi-
viduals are mentioned by name or title. The work paid for in this
text was probably decoration work, because the word mtnw, or rec-
ompense, most commonly refers to painting when used in Deir el
Medina socioeconomic texts.
50
If this text does record the painting
of an entire tomb chapel, then the document seems to suggest that
there were less expensive options for tomb decoration.
Another Nineteenth Dynasty text, Ostracon Deir el Medina 198,
51
records painting work that was done in a sty burial chamber for
about 31 dbn worth of commodities:
Verso:
What a-nt gave to Mry-smt in exchange for the painting of his sty burial
chamber.
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 92
52
This man is probably the same workman of the 19th Dynasty who appears
in the following ocial rosters: O. Ashmolean Museum 57, O. Ashmolean Museum
111, O. Cairo 25519, 25521, 25522, 25523, among others. This crewman is not
mentioned in Davies, Whos Who at Deir el-Medina.
53
For identication with Merysekhmet (ii) and reference to O. DeM198, see Ibid.,
162-63. Davies states, The contextual evidence oered by this document certainly
appears to corroborate the fact that Merysekhmets mtier was that of a draftsman.
54
The average of all known wt con prices is 31.57 dbn. The average of secure
prices is 29.67 dbn. The median of all prices is 25 dbn. See Cooney, The Cost of
Death, chapter 4. Cooney, Value of Private Funerary Art, 205.
55
Bruyre, Tombes Thbaines de Deir el Mdineh Decoration Monochrome.
56
Cern, Catalogue des Ostraca Hiratiques III, 7, pl. 10. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions,
IV, 394-95. Allam, Hieratische Ostraka und Papyri, 104.
Recto:
Col. I Col. II
1 sy loincloth, 2 (pairs of) sandals,
sy loincloth, [blank]
3 bunches of vegetables, rw pigment: 2 snw, 2 pt,
1 tm mat, wood: 1 [. . .]
2 kbs baskets,
2 rgs mats.
Total: 6 snw and 2 pt
The verso contains the opening formula, and should probably be
considered the recto of the text conceptually. Listed on the other
side of the ostracon are two columns of commodities given by
Aanakht
52
to Merysekhmet
53
for the painting of his burial cham-
ber. Because so many burial chambers at Deir el Medina were dec-
orated, in contrast to other Theban tombs, this text likely documents
the decoration of a village burial chamber. The price of 31 dbn
compares well to the average price of a mummiform con;
54
how-
ever, it is not clear if this price represents only partial payment or
if an entire burial chamber at Deir el Medina could be decorated
for approximately 30 dbn. If it could be, then this tomb likely did
not include any expensive blue or green pigment. In fact, this text
may be a receipt for painting one of the so-called monochrome tombs
published by Bernard Bruyre.
55
Appropriately, this text suggests
that less was spent on tomb decoration in the village of Deir el
Medina (O. Deir el Medina 198 for 31 dbn, O. Turin 57378 for
11-14 dbn) compared to tomb decoration for individuals from out-
side, who were able to commission royal craftsmen to work in their
private tombs (O. Ashmolean HO 183 for 240-300 dbn).
Another Nineteenth Dynasty text, O. Deir el Medina 215
56
doc-
uments mtnw or recompense of 17-20 dbn for decoration work
done by the draftsman Burekhinuef on a mr pyramid:
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 93
57
For this restoration, see Janssen, Commodity Prices, 119.
58
Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, VII, 182-83. Formerly O. Gardiner 133.
59
For the snw dbn ratio, see Janssen, Commodity Prices, 107.
Year 1, month 2 of summer, last day. What was given by(?) the crewman
Nb[- . . .] to the draftsman Bw-r-[nw].f as the recompense for his mr pyra-
mid: [1 r of]
57
barley making 3 snw, 1 nbd basket, 1 kbs basket making
2 pt, 1 pair of sandals from pharaoh, l.p.h., making 1 pt, [. . .] 1 mnm
basket, 1 nr sieve [. . .]
This text probably refers only to the painting of the masonry built
pyramid and stone pyramidion atop it, not the tomb chapel inte-
rior. Given the mention of the pyramid, this text may refer to a
Deir el Medina tomb. Furthermore, because the draftsmans title
is recorded and because the word mtnw is used, describing craft
work, this texts relevance is likely limited to the painting of the mr
pyramid, not the sale of the pyramid itself. The price is partly bro-
ken, but 3 snw is more or less equivalent to 15 dbn. Three pt of
grain are also added to the price, and this is equal, more or less,
to 1.5 dbn. Furthermore, two additional items of basketry are men-
tioned, the prices of which are lost. This suggests that decoration
work on the pyramid cost about 17-20 dbn total, for an admittedly
unknown amount of labor.
Even though it remains unclear whether the nw chapel was
funerary in nature, there are nonetheless a few prices preserved in
the west Theban documentation that should be examined here in
the context of commercial exchange. The recto of O. Ashmolean
133,
58
for example, records payment for a nw chapel:
What was given by Nfr-abt to the draftsman Ra-tp in exchange for the nw
chapel: 1 ne, thin fd sheet making 3 1/2 snw, 1 decorated Book of the
Dead papyrus making 1 (silver) dbn, 3 hnw sesame oil [. . .] hnw mr oil [. . .]
large [. . .], 20 hnw of [. . .] . . .
This excerpt is the rst transaction mentioned in a list of several
complicated exchanges recorded in this one text, all involving the
draftsman Rahotep. The most glaring interpretational question is:
does this text document the purchase of an entire nw chapel, or
does it record merely the painting of the chapel? A number of
commodities were handed over to Rahotep, who is specically said
to be a draftsman, and his title alone is enough to arouse suspi-
cion that this document was used by him to record payment for
his painting work in the nw chapel. The items traded, including
high quality cloth probably worth about 15 dbn,
59
a Book of the
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 94
60
This Book of the Deads price is only 1 dbn, but because it is decorated and
because all the other prices in the text are in snw of silver rather than copper
dbn, Janssen assumes that this indicates 1 dbn of silver, not copper, thus equivalent
to 60-100 copper dbn, depending on the exchange rate. See Janssen, Commodity
Prices, 102, n. 6, 246.
61
Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, VII, 310-11. Janssen, De Markt op de Oever, 14.
McDowell, Village Life, 84-85 no. 55.
62
Janssen, Commodity Prices, 359-61.
63
Ibid., 147-49.
64
The one hnw of oil is said to be equal to 1 copper dbn in this text. See Ibid.,
332. The r of grain is equal to approximately 2 copper dbn. Ibid., 112-32.
Dead worth 1 silver dbn, equivalent to 60-100 copper dbn,
60
sesame
oil worth 3 dbn, an unknown amount of mr varnish, and 20 hnw
of an unknown oil, add up to a high price with a conservative esti-
mate of at least 108 dbn (using a low price for the Book of the
Dead at 70 copper dbn). Given the fact that the price also includes
an unknown amount of varnish, the price for this nw chapel could
easily have approached 120 dbn. This text either records payment
for the entire nw chapel, or it records only the painting of the
nw chapel. Despite the uncertainty regarding the nw chapels
funerary nature, this transaction is of interest in that it represents
an undertaking of signicant cost to its commissioner.
In another text, O. Brooklyn E 37.1880 E,
61
a nw chapel is
exchanged for a number of commodities. Part of the recto reads:
The crewman Imn-(m)-ipt to the carpenter Mry-ra in exchange for the at
bed: 20 (pieces of) sy (tamarisk) wood, 1 (piece of) mn wood, 1 kbs basket
with 2 pt (of grain) making 1 r and 3 bundles of vegetables. What was
given to him: 1 sheep / goat making 1 r. What was given to him for his
nw chapel: 5 bundles of vegetables. What was given to (?) his mother say-
ing, Cause the completion (of the total price): 2 (pieces of) clothing of
green (ws ) and aw object (?). What was given to him: 1 mrt sieve and
1 hnw of sesame oil making 1 (?) r of emmer wheat.
Lines 4-7 of this text seem to indicate that this nw chapel was
sold outright, rather than having been commissioned or decorated.
At rst glance, it appears that this nw chapel was exchanged for
only 5 bundles of vegetables, the equivalent of a meager 2.5 cop-
per dbn.
62
However, line 5 of the recto records that the price was
not complete and that items were given to his mother as well,
including two possible textile items, 1 mrt sieve, which are usually
worth 1/2 dbn,
63
1 hnw of sesame oil, and 1 r of emmer, pro-
viding the tentative and very low total price of 6 dbn, plus the
unknown value of the textiles.
64
Given these two texts, the price
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:29 PM Page 95
65
181-231.
66
Spiegelberg, gyptische und andere Grati, 92. Keller, How Many Draughtsmen
Named Amenhotep? 124. McDowell, Village Life, 242.
67
For this translation with restorations and corrections of Spiegelbergs copy,
see Keller, How Many Draughtsmen Named Amenhotep? 124.
information for the nw chapel is very confusing. The range in
price is extreme, from around 6 dbn to over 100 dbn. It is not clear
if either of these nw chapels are funerary in nature, nor is it under-
stood if the payment recorded in these texts represents decoration
only or the entire structure. The one clear characteristic of the nw
chapel is that there was a massive range in economic value for
these buildings a trait certainly shared by crafted funerary objects
like cons and mummy boards.
65
Evidence for Tomb Production by Deir el Medina Artisans
Outside of the Village
A grato from the tomb of Ramses VI, dated to the reign of
Ramses IX, contains a rare mention of the decoration of a private
tomb by Deir el Medina crew members, in this case Theban Tomb
65, belonging to the overseer of the scribes of the Temple of the
Estate of Amen-Re, Iyemseba.
66
It reads:
Year 9 II prt 14 (?): the draughtsman Amenhotep and his son, the scribe
(and) the deputy of the draughtsmen Amennakhte, came today to see the
Places of Truth (wwt matyw) . . . [they found / completed] the drawings
according as (or: when) they had executed the decoration in the tomb-
chapel [of] . . . the [Overseer of Scribes] of the Temple Iymiseba of the
Estate of Amun.
67
No prices or spatial details are mentioned in this grato. Furthermore,
the text is quite broken, and some of the restorations are insecure.
Nonetheless, it does prove that Deir el Medina workmen were active
in the tombs of highly placed Theban ocials, in the so-called
Places of Truth (wwt matyw), not to be confused with the village
of Deir el Medina. It also demonstrates that crewmen with lead-
ing Deir el Medina titles, such as draftsman or deputy, were
those most often mentioned in the texts that document craft work
outside of their village. In this case, it could be assumed that the
well known draftsman Amennakht and his son, a deputy, organ-
ized decoration work in the tomb chapel of a scribal ocial asso-
ciated with the Amen temple organization.
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 96
68
Amer, A Unique Theban Tomb Inscription under Ramesses VIII. The
translations used here are Amers.
69
44-180.
70
Koenig, Les Ostraca Hiratiques Indits, 14, pls. 86, 87, 132.
71
This name is read as Amen-qen in the Deir el Medina online database
(http://www.leidenuniv.nl/nino/dmd/dmd.html). The middle part of the name is not
clear according to the facsimile and the photograph of the ostracon. The rst sign
group reading Imn and the last sign of the man holding the stick are clearly read.
Another grato found in Theban Tomb 113 of Kynebu
68
tells
us that craft work in this private tomb began in the: First (month)
of Inundation, day 13 and ended in the First (month) of winter,
day 2. The text was probably written by a Deir el Medina crew-
man, providing another circumstantial hint that Deir el Medina
workmen could be organized to do tomb decoration work outside
of the village. The text records that it required about 3 1/2 months
from start to nish for the decoration work on the small (m)aat
tomb of the Theban priest Kynebu, but no prices are mentioned.
This renders the amount of time mentioned in the text practically
meaningless in an economic context because rst, it is not known
how large the work crew was, second, it is unknown if the work
was uninterrupted given that Deir el Medina crewmen could be
active in many other duties, and most importantly because there
are no prices mentioned in this text to correlate the amount of
work with actual labor hours. In fact, no Deir el Medina texts from
the private sector clearly link labor time to price,
69
forcing the
researcher to discuss the material or craft value, rather than the
value of time.
A Ramesside letter written on O. Strasbourg H. 174
70
mentions
work by Deir el Medina craftsmen in a tomb belonging to the
mayor of the town, but no payment of any kind is recorded:
The scribe Imn-n to his lord the scribe Bn-g, the one who was working
in the tomb (aat) of the mayor of the town. To the eect that: Listen to
the message (hbt ?) which you made, saying, Cause that one (bring?) to
me the scribe S-mwt and Pn -[. . .]. It is the coming to completion of 1
cubit, 2 cubits, The message to you which I sent is good today. Nineteen
in the [. . .].
Because the name of the rst scribe (Amenqen) is dicult to read,
71
the mans connection to Deir el Medina is unclear. He writes to
his master, an external scribe named Benga associated with the
oce of the mayor of Thebes. The text does indicate that west
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 97
72
Kampp, Die Thebanische Nekropole.
73
181-231. Compare to Janssen, Commodity Prices, 209-48.
Theban craftsmen, and perhaps Deir el Medina scribes, were in
contact with highly placed bureaucrats for high level commissions
and that Deir el Medina workmen, like Samut, certainly worked
in the tombs of high Theban ocials, such as the mayor. The text
also proves that letters were sent to secure the employment of cer-
tain artisans and to inform the tomb owners scribe as to how much
work had been completed on a given day. How Deir el Medina
workmen were paid for this kind of work, however, is still unclear,
because absolutely no price information is found in this letter, as
is common with this genre of text. This lack of contextual and
nancial detail is one of the most frustrating characteristics of west
Theban letters.
The examination of these west Theban texts has already pro-
vided more insight into the creation of non-royal tombs outside of
Deir el Medina during the Ramesside Period than either Romer
or Helck allowed for. Despite Romers awed chronological method-
ology, and our incapacity to judge the chronological implications
of Friedericke Kampps work, in which are documented hundreds
more undecorated New Kingdom tombs,
72
it seems that we can
indeed conclude that the frequency of decorated tomb production,
irrespective of reign assignments, is unlikely to amount to more
than one tomb per year. If only one elite tomb was constructed
and decorated every year in western Thebes, we should not expect
to nd much textual evidence for tomb production when compared
to the relative wealth of documentation concerning the creation of
cons or other funerary arts, which were much more accessible,
economically, to the larger ancient Egyptian population.
In fact, for the entire Ramesside Period I know of only three
prices recorded for production of the (m)aat or styt tomb, perhaps
four if we include the painting work of the mr pyramid from O.
Deir el Medina 215. There are two prices for the nw chapel, but
as stated above, it is by no means certain that this structure was
funerary in nature. In contrast, there are 150 prices for the cre-
ation and decoration of various types of cons, including the wt
anthropoid con (96 prices), the wt a outer con (17 prices), the
wt sr inner con (9 prices), and the swt mummy board (28 prices).
73
Admittedly, many of these cons belonged together as sets and
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 98
74
In Theban Tomb 1, the one intact burial chamber found at Deir el Medina,
20 bodies were found, but only 9 of these were buried in decorated cons. The
other 11 were wrapped only in mats and textiles. (Shedid and Shedid, Das Grab
des Sennedjem, 15). Also see Toda and Daressy, La Decouverte et linventaire du
Tombeau de Sen-Nezem.
75
See Cooney, The Cost of Death, chapter 8.
76
Zivie, Un Dtour par Saqqara: Deir el Mdineh et la Ncropole Memphite.
And Personal communication from Zivie, April 17 2004. At the keynote lecture
of the annual meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt, Zivie suggested
that the tomb of Netjerwymes may have been decorated by the Nineteenth Dynasty
were used to bury only one individual. Even if we assume that
many of these prices represent a smaller number of con sets, the
price records imply that cons were produced 40-50 times more
often than decorated private tombs in the west Theban region dur-
ing the Ramesside Period. This ration of 50:1 should not be shock-
ing as decorated family tombs generally contained more than one
burial.
74
Furthermore, the vast majority of ancient Egyptians were
interred in undecorated burial chambers without a connected tomb
chapel. This ratio also seems to mirror the socioeconomic trend of
mid Dynasty 20 a move away from decorated tomb chapels and
towards large undecorated tomb caches containing hundreds of
cons.
75
Thus, the small number of price texts for private tomb
decoration is understandable in the context of overall tomb cost
and accessibility, the later Ramesside economic recession, and the
trend towards large undecorated tomb caches.
Still, a few texts do link Deir el Medina individuals to private
tomb decoration both within the village and beyond (O. Ashmolean
HO 183, O. Turin 57378, O. Deir el Medina 198, O. Deir el
Medina 215, grato in tomb of Ramses VI, grato in TT 113,
O. Strasbourg H. 174), and many of these texts clearly indicate
that craftsmen were paid for this work. The small number of prices
itself provides no reason to assume that Deir el Medina craftsmen
were not active in the private tomb decoration market in the
Ramesside Period. Alain Zivie has even suggested that Deir el
Medina workmen of the Ramesside Period participated in the dec-
oration of private tomb chapels at Saqqara. Not only did he nd
evidence of Eighteenth Dynasty craftsmen called sm-as m st Mat at
Saqqara, but he found stylistic similarities between Ramesside
Saqqara tomb painting and that of Deir el Medina or the royal
Theban tombs.
76
This link between Deir el Medina craftsmen and
Saqqara is much more tenuous during the Ramesside Period, but
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 99
Deir el Medina craftsman Khabekhnet because of the similarities of a sculpture
with the Hathor cow in the tomb and on a stela of Khabekhnet, now at the
British Museum ( Inv. EA 555).
77
235, 51-52.
78
Deir el Medina crew members did also cut the tombs in the Valley of the
Kings as part of their state sector labor, but because these tombs needed to remain
secret, the number of workers had to be restricted, requiring these men to also
do stone cutting. In their private sector work, on the other hand, the work of
Deir el Medina crewman was valuable in terms of painting, not in terms of stone
cutting, which was work that could be left to unskilled laborers. I would like to
thank David Warburton for bringing this value dierence to my attention (per-
sonal communication, May 2007).
if it is substantiated, then some Deir el Medina draftsmen and
scribes had the time, ability, and organizational workshop infra-
structure to travel hundreds of miles downriver, spending weeks at
a time away from home, in order to supplement their state income.
It would also strongly suggest that their reputations as the painters
of the royal tombs placed them in high demand, making them the
desired artisans of the Egyptian elite, of those most able to aord
decorated tomb chapels in the rst place.
Interestingly, none of the Deir el Medina socioeconomic texts
involving private tombs indicate the actual cost of cutting a tomb
from the living rock. The documentation only preserves receipts for
the painting of a tomb chapel, tomb chamber or a masonry pyra-
mid. There are no prices for stone work, although there is some
indication that the Deir el Medina crew did indeed cut private
tombs (such as O. Cairo 25243 discussed below). My previous inves-
tigation of the production of private sector cons and other funer-
ary items shows a similar trend: the Deir el Medina workmen clearly
specialized in draftsmanship as their private sector craft activity,
rather than stone or wood working.
77
To this end, no titles associ-
ated with stone cutting are found in the documentation of private
sector funerary art production. Perhaps most transportable stonework
stelae or pyramidia was crafted near a quarry site, and thus the
associated texts, if any were created, might be found at a location
nearby. Under such a scenario, workers who actually cut the tombs
of Western Thebes would most often be those associated with a
quarry, rather than the villagers of Deir el Medina, whose drafts-
manship, in the private sector at least, seems to have been their
most valued skill.
78
One of the many confusing features in the west
Theban textual material (as it pertains to private funerary art) is
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 100
79
O. Deir el Medina 129.
80
Cern, Unpublished Notebooks. Cooney, Value of Private Funerary Art, 59.
81
Most of these ocial texts are from the Cairo collection and catalogue because
of their ndspot in the Valley of the Kings. Many of these texts were discovered
by Theodore Davies and Lord Carnarvon-Howard Carters expeditions.
the focus on crafted wooden objects and the decoration thereof.
Many texts document painting in the private sector private crafts
market, but the large majority involve wooden goods such as cons
or domestic furniture. Very rarely are stelae mentioned (and in one
of the four textual references to them, the stela is said to be made
of wood).
79
Only Ostracon Berlin 14256
80
discusses actual payment
for stone stelae, and this receipt probably documents only the dec-
oration thereof, not the construction. The same is true for mr pyr-
amids or pyramidia. Only one price exists for a mr pyramid, and
it documents decoration rather than the crafting of the stone (O.
Deir el Medina 215, see above). This lack of reference in the Deir
el Medina textual archive to funerary stonework or to funerary
objects crafted in stone is puzzling given the stonework and stone-
painting specialization of the crew in the royal tomb, not to men-
tion the hundreds of stone stelae found in the village itself. We
know only that Deir el Medina crewman were sometimes paid for
painting private Theban tombs, but whether they were also paid
for cutting tombs out of the living rock remains unclear. For now,
the extant west Theban documentation suggests that these craftsmen
specialized almost exclusively in painting in the private sector.
Tomb Journal Texts and Evidence for Private Sector Tomb Production
The west Theban textual documentation, scarce as it is, suggests
that as little as 11 dbn or as much as 300 dbn could be paid for
tomb painting. Almost all of the texts examined thus far are receipts,
and as a result, they fail to provide information about organiza-
tional infrastructure of the private sector workshop. Receipts record
prices and the means of exchange, but they do not tell us if the
Deir el Medina craftsmen decorated private tombs as part of a for-
mal gang, or if they were working informally, as part of smaller
community workgroups. To shed light on how private sector tomb
work may have been organized, it becomes necessary to examine
entries from the so-called Deir el Medina tomb journal,
81
a body
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 101
82
Daressy, Ostraca. Nos. 25001-25385, 65, pl. LIII. For a correct transcription,
see Cern, Unpublished Notebooks.
83
The provenance for this text is probably Tomb KV 6 (Ramses IX) or Tomb
KV 9 (Ramses VI).
84
Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, VII, 462-63. Daressy, Ostraca. Nos. 25001-25385,
62-63, pl. LII. Wimmer, Hieratische Palographie, I, 38-39.
85
Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, VI, 624-30.
86
This of course reminds one of the famous law of the pharaoh, which indi-
cates that the one who takes on the nancial responsibility of burying the parent
will inherit their fortune. See Janssen and Pestman, Burial and Inheritance.
of textual material that recorded the day to day activities of the
craftsmen when they were working together as a group (see Table 2).
In one text from the royal tomb journal of late Dynasty 20
O. Cairo 25250, rt. (see Fig. 2)
82
we see a list of workmens per-
sonal names followed by crafted wooden objects such as gwt boxes,
msr boxes, a fdt boxes, a t beds, or other wooden items.
As can be seen in the transcription, some lines have been crossed
out, suggesting that the work was perhaps completed. No prices
are mentioned, but the text indicates that small scale craft pro-
duction, presumably for the private sector, occurred at the ocial
work site in the Valley of the Kings where this text was found.
83
Another late Dynasty 20 text Ostracon Cairo 25243
84
suggests
that the crew sometimes performed private sector tomb production
as a group. This particular ostracon is a journal of the royal tomb
found in KV 6 of Rameses IX, and line 8 of the recto reads, Day
14, cutting the tomb of the high priest. The text indicates that
much of this commission was performed during work hours. No
other details of possible payment or organization are mentioned.
The verso of another late Dynasty 20 tomb journal (P. Turin 1906 +
1939 + 2047)
85
preserves grain deliveries and other details of work,
including the following lines (2:6-2:7):
That which Msw did: 3 day[s] of work on the wooden bt sarcophagus of
P-m-nr.
That which Msw did: one day of carrying stones.
Line 2:6 (see Fig. 3) records a crewman spending three days work-
ing on the bt sarcophagus of a man who is not from Deir el
Medina Pakhemnetjer. In lines 2:8-2:10 is written What was
given to him, followed by a long list of commodities, including
vegetables, sh, beer, grain, all from the hand of the son of
Pakhemnetjer. It would appear that this workman was actually
paid with a number of commodities by the future sarcophagus
owners son, whose father may or may not have already died.
86
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 102
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87
Bogoslovsky, Hundred Egyptian Draughtsmen ZS 107 (1980): 89-116.
88
Janssen, Absence from Work by the Necropolis Workmen of Thebes.
Very rarely is payment listed for private sector craft work in the
tomb journal, but P. Turin 1906 is one such record. In most cases
recording crewmens craft work in the tomb journal, it is unclear
whether the men were reimbursed in any way beyond their ocial
salaries for their craft work, or if their work was simply considered
one of the ocial tasks of the crew. The purpose of the tomb jour-
nal was to document who was working on what, where they were
working, and when the work was completed. It was never intended
to record private commercial exchange. Nevertheless, some Deir el
Medina specialists, including Evgeni Bogoslovsky
87
and Jac Janssen,
88
Fig. 2 Transcription of O. Cairo 25250 from the Cern notebooks,
with permission of the Grith Institute.
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Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions VI, 624-26, 630.
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JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 105
.
89
232-55.
90
Cooney, Value of Private Funerary Art, 249-56.
maintain that work in the tombs of high Theban ocials was
tantamount to institutionalized and accepted exploitation, because
some recorded instances of non-royal tomb work, such as that in
O. Cairo 25243 discussed above (and see Table 2), record no details
of payment.
However, the west Theban documentation itself provides many
clues that suggest these men were given some kind of additional
recompense for this labor, beyond their monthly wages. First one
must remember that the documents upon which these assertions of
exploitation are based are tomb journals, a particular genre of text
whose function is not to record the private transfer of money, but
rather to document the organization of work, most commonly ocial
work. The prices themselves were only recorded when an object
was actually sold and a receipt was drawn up, a genre of text whose
main purpose was to record the transfer of wealth. Four receipts
discussed above (O. Ashmolean HO 183, O. Turin 57378, O. Deir
el Medina 198, O. Deir el Medina 215) do in fact provide prices
for decoration work in private tomb chapels or burial chambers,
thus proving that Deir el Medina workmen could be paid for tomb
work ranging from inexpensive to costly. One tomb journal docu-
ment (P. Turin 1906) even includes payment for non-royal work,
despite being a record in the ocial tomb journal. Finally, a much
larger body of texts, including receipts, workshop records, letters,
legal texts, and tomb journal records, document other types of
funerary art, in particular cons, and this documentation strongly
suggests that these men were paid for private sector work by Theban
ocials in an informal workshop system that functioned alongside
the formal royal workshop organization.
89
The Informal Workshop and Con Production for the Private Sector
A large body of documentation from Western Thebes records pri-
vate sector production of cons and other funerary goods for which
the workmen were clearly paid, indicating that craftsmen could
work within a private sector market for which there was regional
demand.
90
For example, in the mid Twentieth Dynasty text O. Berlin
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 106
91
Erman, Hieratische Papyrus, vol. III, pls. XXXIV, XXXIVa. Kitchen, Ramesside
Inscriptions, VI, 164-65. McDowell, Village Life, 81-82.
92
Cooney, Alternative Models for Craft Specialization. Cooney, The Cost of
Death, chapter 5. Cooney, Value of Private Funerary Art, 232-55.
93
m nwt, in Thebes. See McDowell, Village Life, 82.
94
See O. Berlin 11260 rt., O. Berlin 12343 rt., O. Cern 20 rt., O. Gardiner
105, O. Gardiner 119, O. Gardiner 134 rt., O. Gardiner 136, O. Gardiner 151
vs., O. Gardiner 190 vs., O. Lady Franklyn.
12343,
91
a workshop record, a crewman named Bakenwerner does
both carpentry and painting-work, but he seems to have done so
in the context of what I have called the informal workshop in
other publications:
92
Recto: The decoration work which is from the workman Bk-n-wrnr: the
ytt funerary object of Mwt[- . . .] making 12 dbn, the mn-an outer con of
an making 20 dbn, the wt sr inner con of an making 10 dbn. One gave to
the builder P-a-m-nt: also doing for her another making 10 dbn. The wt
con that he gave in exchange for the dy cloak in town
93
making 10 dbn,
its swt mummy board making 4 dbn, the 2 decorated sb doors of the st-
rs burial place making 6 dbn, [. . .] 2 wt cons and the swt mummy board
of Bkt[-n-]st making 24 dbn [. . .]
Verso: The carpentry work which the workman Bk-n-wrnr gave to the
[drafts]man r-sr : wood: 1 plastered dbt box making 8 dbn, 1 afdt box
making 2 dbn, 1 wt con making 15 dbn, and the wood belongs to me
[. . .]. Wood: 1 small at bed making 15 dbn, and the wood belongs to me.
Wood: 1 at bed making 20 dbn, and the wood belongs to me, but the
ebony belongs to me from his son Nb-nfr. Wood: 1 y container making 2
dbn. From him: 1 wt con. Wood: 1 mw carrying pole (?) making [. . .]
of barley. 1 [braided kskst basket (?)] making 4 (?) dbn, while it belongs to
me as regards [the wood], the wt con [. . .] Total 52 (dbn).
In this workshop record, the crewman Bakenwerner performs both
painting and carpentry. On the recto he paints a number of objects,
and on the verso he does carpentry-work specically for the drafts-
man Horisheri. This text does not document Bakenwerners car-
pentry and painting-work on the same object from start to nish,
but rather his decoration work or carpentry-work on several dierent
objects. He was laboring within the context of something larger
a loosely organized cooperation in which specialized non-royal com-
missions were distributed among artisans attached to a royal work-
shop. This text is just one of many that suggest it actually was
unusual for a craftsman to create funerary objects from start to
nish. For example, twelve workshop records document only the
decoration of wt cons, providing indirect evidence that other indi-
viduals initially constructed these objects.
94
Other workshop records
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 107
95
See O. Gardiner 105, rt., O.IFAO 1017, rt., O. Petrie 17.
96
Cern and Gardiner, Hieratic Ostraca, 10, pl. 33, 3. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions,
VI, 161. Allam, Hieratische Ostraka und Papyri, 176.
97
Lopez, Ostraca Ieratici, III, 23, pl. 114. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, VII, 322.
point to artisans performing only carving work on the wt con,
selling or trading the object without decoration.
95
The same sepa-
ration of labor exists for the wt a outer con, wt sr inner con,
swt mummy board, and other funerary objects, like the ytt mummy
board. In this informal and private sector workshop, it was unusual
for one artisan to construct and decorate the same con, even
when he was certainly capable of it, because he was part of some-
thing larger a collective group of artisans that provided a vari-
ety of skills as well as capital for materials.
The mid Twentieth Dynasty workshop record O. Ashmolean HO
119
96
also shows that artisans separated the kinds of labor they
would perform in their private sector craft work:
The work which Imn-nt son of Rs-ptr.f did for me: wood: 1 msr furniture
object making 15 (dbn), 1 tbt box making 10 (dbn). I gave to him decora-
tion of the 2 wt cons making 20 (dbn) and 2 smooth mss shirts making
10 (dbn).
This workshop record documents a simple trade or barter between
craftsmen, one of whom decorates cons and the other who con-
structs wooden objects. An unnamed man, possibly a draftsman,
made a record in rst person that Amennakht did some work for
him, ostensibly carpentry work on a piece of msr furniture and a
tbt box worth 25 total dbn. Amennakht is paid for the work (bk)
on these objects, but not for the objects themselves. In exchange
for this work the unnamed draftsman decorated 2 wt cons for 20
dbn and then added 2 mss shirts to the exchange for 10 dbn, pro-
viding a total of 30 dbn, which is 5 dbn more than the work done
by the carpenter. One might assume that the tbt box and msr fur-
niture piece were meant to be decorated by the draftsman, per-
haps to sell later. Many other, similar workshop records reveal that
carpenters and draftsmen traded goods and services with each other,
rather than construct one piece from start to nish.
Furthermore, a number of receipts, such as the Twentieth Dynasty
O. Turin 57368,
97
indicate that funerary items made in this infor-
mal workshop were often ultimately sold by high ranking Deir el
Medina ocials:
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 108
98
That is, the commodities received from the buyer of the con.
99
232-55.
100
For more on text type or genre in the west Theban documentation, see
Cooney, The Cost of Death, chapter 3.
Recto:
List of the wealth which the scribe of the tomb r gave: 1 wt con of
tamarisk wood (sy) making 80 (dbn), the decoration and that which was var-
nished making 65 copper dbn, a swt mummy board [. . .] making 20 (dbn).
Receiving from him:
98
1 ox making 100 dbn. Receiving from him: another
ox making 100(+x?) dbn, 1 smooth dyt cloak making 20 (dbn), making
43 dbn, a smooth ft sheet making 8 (dbn), the swt mummy board making
15 (dbn),
Verso:
[. . .] a smooth fd sheet[. . .] 1 thin dg kerchief (?) [making] 9 dbn (?)
High ranking Deir el Medina ocials, such as scribes of the tomb,
are never documented in workshop records as having performed
any carpentry work,
99
yet here we see the scribe Hori selling a
nished and expensive con set in exchange for a variety of com-
modities. He was most likely selling an item which he did not make
himself, but whose construction and decoration he organized.
The Informal Workshop and Private Tomb Production
Given the context of this private sector informal workshop
which functioned parallel to the state sector formal workshop if
one examines the tomb journal texts documenting private tomb
work in conjunction with the few receipts we have for private tomb
decoration, then it is possible to make a circumstantial argument
that crew leaders organized tomb commissions for highly placed
patrons such as the mayor of Thebes or the high priest of Amen
and that workmen were compensated for this private sector activity
in some way. Payment and price information were not usually
recorded in tomb journal entries, but rather in receipts and work-
shop records. Therefore, the argument that private tomb production
in Western Thebes ts into a market economy driven by social
demand (rather than exploitation) rests not only on the type of text,
i.e. genre,
100
but also on the entire body of Ramesside textual material
relating to funerary craft production. Rather than documenting
exploitation, it seems much more plausible that overseers care-
fully documented non-ocial craft activity in the tomb journal in
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 109
101
Cern, Quelques Ostraca Hiratiques Indits, 184-200. Cern, Ostraca
Hiratiques, 10-11, 22-25, pls. XV-XVI. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, IV, 397-402.
Wimmer, Hieratische Palographie, 1, 52-54.
102
P. Salt, rt. 2, 10-12, 19-20. Cern, Papyrus Salt 124.
103
McDowell, Jurisdiction in the Workmens Community, 210.
104
Janssen, Commodity Prices, 536.
105
Cern, Ostraca Hiratiques, 8-9, 15-17 pls. X-XI. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions,
IV, 320-21, 87-89. Wimmer, Hieratische Palographie, 1, 48-50. McDowell, Village
Life, 35, no. 10.
order to ensure that the responsible craft workers were carefully
listed for future payment.
This does not mean that crew leaders never exploited their work-
ers or that this informal workshop system was fair, especially as it
pertained to private tomb construction. For example, Ostracon
Cairo 25521
101
records work by the crew in the tomb of the noto-
rious foreman Paneb, for which they were probably not paid any
extra wages, given the litigation that plagued Paneb for abusing
his position. Actually, the accusatory texts in Papyrus Salt
102
docu-
menting the foreman Panebs illegitimate use of the work force for
his own gain represents some of the strongest evidence disproving
the notion that workmen were not paid in some way for private
sector labor. The traditional interpretation of these tomb journal
texts and worker payments, however, is quite dierent from that
forwarded here. For example, with regard to Panebs worker exploita-
tion, Andrea McDowell states, this was no more than other fore-
men did: perhaps it was not strictly ethical but it was common
practice.
103
She cites Janssen, who uses O. Cairo 25516 and O.
Cairo 25517 to claim that the foreman Hay also used his workers
for his own private gain.
104
A closer look at the tomb journal text O. Cairo 25517 vs.
105
shows that the record simply documents absences and reasons for
absences. An excerpt from the verso (lines 9-11) reads:
Ra-wbn sick, K-s, S-Ra sick, Ipwy was making the tomb (aa ). Those who
are absent with the chief of the crew y: mw-sr and S-wyt making
the twt statue [. . .] the [. . .] was making the tomb (aa ) [. . .].
This text is by no means a clear testament to worker exploitation
within a strict state-run economy. In the rst section, it is unclear
if Ipuy was given time o to work on his own tomb, or if the tomb
belonged to a superior or Theban ocial. He is listed with indi-
viduals who are sick, and who are thus not reporting for ocial
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 110
106
Cern, Ostraca Hiratiques, 8, 13-14. Kitchen, Ramesside Inscriptions, IV, 328,
84-87. McDowell, Village Life, 83, no. 54.
duty. This man is still actively performing craft work, but because
he appears on the absence list, we must assume that he is work-
ing informally, and not in ocial capacity. The next lines indicate
that some of the crew are making statues and working in a tomb,
maybe for a superior since they are specically said to be with their
foreman Hay. Nonetheless, there is insucient information here to
assume that the foreman Hay is actually exploiting his workers for
his own gain; they are only said to be with him doing craft work.
Although no payment is listed in these texts, this would not have
been the place for it. The tomb journal keeps track of craftsmen,
locations, and work activities, not of commercial exchanges. In fact,
I argue that the names of these men who worked on these private
aat tombs were carefully recorded in tomb journals because they
were part of an informal workshop organized by their superiors.
The details of subsequent payment would only have been listed in
a receipt and/or workshop record, not in a tomb journal text such
as this.
The other tomb journal text marshaled by proponents of the
exploitation model O. Cairo 25516 vs. 26-27
106
also documents
absences of Deir el Medina craftworkers and reads:
Month 4 of prt, day 6. S-wyt absent making a hdmw box for y. mw-
sr absent making a twt statue for y.
Again, although no payment is mentioned in this journal text, this
absence by no means proves that these men went unpaid for the
work, because a journal text is not the appropriate place to list
such payment. The men are indeed said to do craft work for the
foreman Hay, but given other textual information found in work-
shop records and receipts, one could also assume that he was lead-
ing commissions in the informal workshop, and that these workmen
would receive remuneration later. They are said to be absent
(wsf ) while doing these commissions, clearly indicating that they
were not working in ocial capacity. Read within the context of
the informal workshop, this text documents that workmen could
actually be relieved of ocial duties in order to perform private
sector labor.
JEH 1,1_f5_79-116IIII 3/28/08 9:21 PM Page 111
Formal versus Informal Workshops
In conclusion, public sector work in the royal tomb is relatively
easy to understand, as it is possible to identify wages, interpret strict
organizational systems, and understand a clear hierarchy of deci-
sion making. Private sector craft work, on the other hand, is loosely
organized and thus not as obvious in the textual material because
a number of dierent individuals are keeping track of work in
various ways: in workshop records, tomb journal entries and receipts,
all within the context of an informal workshop that functioned
alongside the formal royal tomb organization. Nonetheless, evidence
of payment for private sector craft production and tomb creation
is not absent, nor is it dicult to nd. One must simply examine
the genre of a given socioeconomic text and place that evidence
contextually within the entire body of west Theban textual material.
I oppose redistributive, substantivist, or primitivist interpretations
that claim Deir el Medina workers monthly wages were rarely
supplemented by prots from work in private tombs. Instead,
examining the entire body of socioeconomic data concerning tomb
goods production and interpreting these texts according to their
type, I propose that a private sector market for funerary goods
existed within the Theban region and that it was driven by the
demands of highly placed Theban ocials as well as by the Deir
el Medina craftsmen themselves.
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The Production of Private Ramesside Tombs Within The West Theban Funerary

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The Production of Private Ramesside Tombs Within The West Theban Funerary

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Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 JEH 1.

WP is best translated as chapel,

were to be paid for 100 dn of decoration work (a measure of area

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