Great Pit | Images of Deir el-Medina : Past & Present

The Great Pit

North of the Ptolemaic Temple, just before the valley opens, lies the second largest feature of Deir el-Medina (the first being the Ptolemaic Temple): an enormous pit over 50 metres deep and 30 metres wide. It is generally believed that the ancient inhabitants of Deir el-Medina tried to dig a well here in search of a convenient water supply. The search was unsuccessful, however, as the water level of the Nile was much lower than it was possible to dig, so water had to continue to be carried by donkeys from the farmlands several hundred metres away.

Although the river now flows at a considerable distance from the settlement, it has changed course several times since ancient times. Napoleon's cartographers at the end of the 18th century mapped the main channel much closer to the western hills than it is today.

In ancient times, water points were set up in places around the settlement and large pottery containers were provided to hold the water. From these points, water was distributed to individual houses within the village.

In modern times the water points still fulfil their function, as can be seen in these pictures taken in February 2007. The picture was taken in Deir el-Medina itself, the picture below was taken on the road leading from Deir el-Medina at the crossroads to Medinet Habu and the and the Valley of the Queens.

When attempts to find water were finally abandoned, the huge hole was used as a rubbish pit and filled with debris, including hundreds of ostraka. The pit was the richest source of both hieratic and figural ostraka found in the area of the village.

An excerpt from Jaroslav Černý's lecture held in Cairo on April 4th 1932 (the manuscript of which is held at the Archive of the Ancient Near East and Africa Department, National Museum - Náprstek Museum, Prague, Czech Republic):

"Water represents a great expenditure during the excavations. Deir el-Medina lies completely in the desert - the nearest tree is about a quarter of an hour. The ancient Egyptians had tried to dig a well in the vicinity of the temple of Deir el-Medina, but even at a depth of 60 meters they reached no water. Therefore all water for washing, cooking and drinking has to be transported from the well located down in the plain close to Medinet Habu. The well belongs to our chief workman Hassan Khalif. He gives us water for free, but we must pay the man who pumps it from the well, and the donkeys, who transport it up to our house every day from morning till evening. The expenses for water reach, if I am not mistaken, 30 crowns a day. The lion's share of this sum ends up in the pocket of our reis anyway, as the donkeys belong to him and he pays the man who pumps, and he certainly does not give him all that he charges us for him."

View of the pit from east to west. The chapels north of the enclosure wall of the Ptolemaic temple are below the cliffs on the left.

View of the pit looking from the south to the north, located just in front of the chapels situated to the north of the enclosure wall of the Ptolemaic temple.

During archaeological excavations, Bruyère dated the current form of the pit to Ptolemaic times, but two documents from the 20th dynasty record successive attempts to dig down to the water level from a point north of the village. As there are no other very deep pits in the area, these Ramesside attempts must have been made in the same place.

1. Ostrakon DeM 92

Year 15, fourth month of winter, day 12. List of all the work done in the well:
previously 36 1/2 cubits
work subsequently 6 1/2 cubits
total 43

2. Papyrus Turin 1923 (+ fragments)

Year 2 (or 3), second month of summer, day 15. This day, the chief builder [...] of the estate of
Amun arrived to measure the well in front of [...] the Necropolis to the water surface (of) the lake of
the Ramesseum:
from the lake to the Enclosure of the Necropolis:    elevation [...] cubits
from the Necropolis to the well: 26 cubits 5 palms
total:       60 + X
The difference makes 22 cubits 5 palms to the water surface.
So one shall dig 10 to [...] the water.
Total:          22 cubits 5 palms

A staircase cut into the rock spirals down the walls of the pit

to the bottom.

The late Professor of Egyptology Dr Jaana Toivari-Viitala of the University of Helsinki posted a note on the EEF in June 2009 that Guillemette Andreau had given a talk at the Rhodes Congress in 2008 in which she announced that the IFAO & Louvre were working on texts from the Great Pit.

There are 18 pages of references to the Great Pit in the Archives de Bernard Bruyère, which have been digitised by the IFAO and are now accessible at
http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyere/?sujet=Fouille+du+grand+puits&page=1

The text on this page was written by Lenka Peacock

Sources:
1. Pharaoh's workers : the villagers of Deir el-Medina / edited by Leonard H. Lesko
Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 1994.
2. James, T.G.H.: Pharaoh's people : scenes from life in Imperial Egypt
New York : Tauris Parke, 2003.
3. Romer, John: Ancient lives : the story of the Pharaoh's tombmakers
London : Phoenix, 1984.
4. McDowell, A.G.: Village life in ancient Egypt : laundry lists and love songs
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999.
5. Théby : město bohů a faraónů = Thebes : city of gods and pharaohs / Jana Mynářová & Pavel Onderka (eds.)
Praha : Národní Museum, 2007.
6. http://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/archives/bruyere/?sujet=Fouille+du+grand+puits&page=1

Further Bibliography

Images of Deir el-Medina:

past & present

The Great Pit