This is a little known venue that is off the tourist route because - it is a very dangerous deep chasm over 100 feet deep. It is none the less - fascinating, and I would visit the site on my own, as this was possible for me in those days.

   Some say it was an abandoned clay pit, others that it was a very deep well that failed to deliver, but, whatever, eventually it was used as a rubbish dump by the inhabitants of Deir el-Medina and over the period of thousands of years it was filled to the top with their unwanted refuse, which proved to be a gold mine for future archaeologists.

    It was the habit of artisans to practise their art on broken pottery shards or flakes of white limestone (Ostraka, Ostrakon), and after being of no further use they were thrown out with the rest of the rubbish, into the Great Pit.

    Some of the art work "doodles" were truly fabulous, and the whole pit was emptied in search of these "sort-after" artefacts. Some were letters, notes of things to do, laundry lists and the mundane acts of everyday life in a village. Ordinary broken pottery was given the quick once-over by archaeologists, and then discarded in great "unwanted" heaps which still litter the site to this day.

 

 

   The rock around the edge of the pit is crumbly and unsafe - keep your distance - and there is an obvious path sloping down at a very steep angle, too steep to be safe, and at closer examination the path can be seen to end abruptly, only half way down the chasm. Never mind, there is a lot to see on the surface, if one is happy looking at vast mounds of abandoned broken pottery, as what I am.  Now can we possibly find an overlooked Ostraka as good as the famous dancing girl that was found here?  Maybe yes, probably no.

 

The Dancing Girl of Deir el-Medina

Ostrakon Picture Show

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   There were many thousands of Ostrakon found here over the last hundred years, and some like the "Dancer" were true works of art in their own right.

    The chance of finding anything that had been over looked was remote .. but what the heck ... finding things is what I do, so I paid attention to the huge piles of broken pottery that has been abandoned as of no interest, and lo and behold, I found a piece which had a potter's mark on it.

    Research seemed to show that the mark wasn't 18th Dynasty, more Arabic, but then, suddenly, there is was, the symbol on the shard was Nabatean (Inhabitants of Petra), who were masters of the shores of the Gulf of Aqaba and the important harbour of Elath. Where, according to Agatharchides, they were for a time very troublesome, as pirates, to the reopened commerce between Egypt and the East, until they were chastised by the Ptolemaic rulers of Alexandria, some 2 thousand years ago.  The Nabateans invented the North Arabic Script that had evolved into the Modern Arabic script of today.

 

    But that's still not 18th Dynasty, so I turned my attention to walking over the sandy spoil heaps of bits and pieces, picking up small shards of pottery and looking at their underside until, Eureka, ancient symbols of an Ankh (Life) and two Was-Sceptres (Staffs of Dominion) were scratched into the surface.

    Admittedly, it was only the top half of the symbols remaining, but they were the ancient symbols of royalty and most certainly 18th Dynasty.  I rested happy in the thought that after 3,500 years I was holding an artefact that had been fashioned by someone who had worked on the construction of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings ..... such a long, long time ago.

   There is a marvellous relief at Edfu Temple showing the Ankh and two Was Sceptres standing on a Cup of Everything, meaning all life and dominion.

   The guides and locals will tell you that all the broken pottery lying around in vast profusion is modern, a few years old ... but, believe me, some of it has been lying there for thousands upon thousands of years just waiting .. for you.

 

The Traveller (See the Gateway to Heaven) found in Deir el-Medina.

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