[4] At the time when the world's press was concentrating on Howard Carter's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, a team led by Bernard Bruyère began to excavate the site.

[5] This work has resulted in one of the most thoroughly documented accounts of community life in the ancient world that spans almost four hundred years.

[8] The village may have been built apart from the wider population in order to preserve secrecy in view of sensitive nature of the work carried out in the tombs.

A French team directed by Bernard Bruyère excavated the entire site, including village, dump and cemetery, between 1922 and 1951.

Unfortunately through lack of control it is now thought that about half of the papyri recovered were removed without the knowledge or authorization of the team director.

[12] Jaroslav Černý, who was part of Bruyère's team, went on to study the village for almost fifty years until his death in 1970 and was able to name and describe the lives of many of the inhabitants.

[14] The first datable remains of the village belong to the reign of Thutmose I (c. 1506–1493 BC) with its final shape being formed during the Ramesside Period.

[15] At its peak, the community contained around sixty-eight houses spread over a total area of 5,600 m2 with a narrow road running the length of the village.

[25] The settlement was home to a mixed population of Egyptians, Nubians and Asiatics who were employed as labourers, (stone-cutters, plasterers, water-carriers), as well as those involved in the administration and decoration of the royal tombs and temples.

When working on the tombs, the artisans stayed overnight in a camp overlooking the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut (c. 1479–1458 BC) that is still visible today.

As salaried state employees they were paid in rations at up to three times the rate of a field hand, but unofficial second jobs were also widely practiced.

[27] At great festivals such as the heb sed the workmen were issued with extra supplies of food and drink to allow a stylish celebration.

[32] The examples of love songs recovered show how friendship between the sexes was practised, as was social drinking by both men and women.

Female slaves could become surrogate mothers in cases where the wife was infertile and in doing so raise their status and procure their freedom.

[39][40] Brewing of beer was normally supervised by the Mistress of the House, though the workmen considered the monitoring of the activity as a legitimate excuse for taking time off work.

[29] The local police, Medjay, were responsible for preserving law and order, as well as controlling access to the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

[29] One of the most famous cases recorded relates to Paneb, the son of an overseer, who was accused of looting royal tombs, adultery and causing unrest in the community.

[44] When a matter of justice came up that wasn't resolved by a tribunal, the god's statue could be carried to the accused and asked "Is it he who stole my goods?"

As in other Egyptian communities, the workmen and inhabitants of Deir el-Medina received care for their health problems through medical treatment, prayer, and magic.

[48][49] Written medical texts appear to have been much rarer, however, with only a handful of ostraca containing prescriptions, indicating that the trained physician mixed the more complicated remedies himself.

There are also several documents that show the writer sending for medical ingredients, but it is unknown whether these were sent according to a physician's prescription, or to fulfill a home remedy.

[50] The excavations of the royal artisans community at Deir el-Medina have revealed much evidence of personal religious practice and cults.

[52] The villagers held Amenhotep I (c. 1526–1506 BC) and his mother, Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, in high regard over many generations, possibly as divinized patrons of the community.

[54] Every year the villagers celebrated the Festival of Amenhotep I, where the elders acted as priests in the ceremonies that paid honour to their own local gods who were not worshipped anywhere else in Egypt.

[55] Prayers were made and dedicated to a particular deity as votive offerings, similar in style to the Penitential Psalms in the Tanakh, which express remorse and thanksgiving for mercy.

[57] On another stele, a workman writes, "I was a man who swore falsely by Ptah, Lord of Truth, and he caused me to see darkness by day.

[63] In about the 25th year of the reign of Ramesses III (c. 1170 BC) the tomb laborers were so exasperated by delays in supplies that they threw down their tools and walked off the job in what may have been the first sit-down strike action in recorded history.

[66][67] The French Egyptologist and author Christian Jacq has written a tetralogy dealing with Deir el-Medina and its artisans, as well as Egyptian political life at the time.

Deir el-Medina is also mentioned in some of the later books of the Amelia Peabody series by Barbara Mertz (writing as Elizabeth Peters).

The village is the setting for some scenes, and late in the series the fictional Egyptologist Radcliffe Emerson is credited with excavations and documentation of the site.