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The village of Deir el-Medina on the west bank of the Nile in southern Egypt was established out of necessity. The pharaohs of the New Kingdom, which spanned the 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties, decreed that their tombs, and those of their wives and children, be cut from the rocky desert near Thebes in what came to be known as the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. Located between the valleys, Deir el-Medina likely began as a temporary camp for artisans tasked with building and, later, decorating these royal tombs.
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