Although
the houses in the village varied in size they followed a fairly
standard plan.
The first room very often contained a rectangular
mud
brick structure partially or fully enclosed except for an opening on
the long side,
which was approached by three steps. Bruyère found remains of these structures in twenty eight of the sixty eight houses known to him at the site. The function of the bed-like constructions is still being discussed by Egyptologists today. It has been suggested that they could have functioned as a birthing or nursing bed, or a bed-altar to an ancestor cult. Fragments from several paintings from the exterior panels of some of these structures specifically involve themes in female life: labour, childbirth and daily grooming. It is assumed that the villagers might have worshipped figures of deities or supplicated a recently deceased relative within these bed-altars. Recently it has been suggested (Brooker, 2009, p. 44-53) that the front rooms at Deir el-Medina were used as gardens. The suggestion is supported by existence of several clay models of houses from other sites in Egypt displaying enclosed courtyards within the frontal space. Archaeological evidence indicates that gardns were created on lower levels than the houses. The majority of floors in the front rooms at Deir el-Medina's houses were at lower levels - some 40 to 50 cm lower than the street level. Textual evidence relating to the front room and its purpose is limited, but Instructions and love poetry both suggest the importance of a private garden for an ancient Egyptian. The second room was the main living room and it stood higher than the first one. The flat roof of the room was supported by one or two wooden pillars that rested on stone bases. By archaeological evidence it is widely acknowledged that the second room had a sacred significance. Offering stelae were found near shallow rectangular and arched wall niches, which occur in several houses in the first and second rooms. Limestone offering tables were found in their vicinity. In the second rooms of most houses false door dedications were discovered. All this evidence seems to indicate that the second room, among other multiple settings, was used to connect with and gain protection of those outside the bounds of ordinary moral existence. Some houses had a small chamber off the second room, which seems to have been used both as a general storeroom and as a place where someone might sleep. Beyond this room there was a kitchen and a staircase leading up to the roof, which was partially open to the air to allow smoke to escape. Two cellars complete the dwellings. |
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