Deir El Medina Tombs

Settlement site on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor situated in a bay in the cliffs midway between the Ramesseum and Medinet Habu. The village of Deir El-Medina was inhabited by the workmen who built the royal tombs in the VALLEY OF THE KINGS between the early 18th Dynasty and the late Ramesside period (c. 1550-1069). The site also incorporated the tombs of the workmen as well as a temple dedicated to various gods, which was founded in the reign of Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC) and almost completely rebuilt in the reign of Ptolemy IV (221-205 BC). Deir El Medina was excavated by Ernesto Schiaparelli from 1905 to 1909 and by Bernard Bruyere between 1917 and 1947