The Men of The Gang: the village of Deir el-Medina and its inhabitants October 25, 2008

10.00 Doors open for registration and a sale of books in the foyer to the Brunei Gallery Theatre
11.00 Opening remarks by Dr Morris Bierbrier, who will chair the study day
11.20 Professor Jac Janssen, Before and After the Strikes at Deir el-Medina
12.10 Coffee/tea and biscuits
12.40 Dr Karen Exell, The Tomb Scribe Ramose: the king’s eyes?
13.30 Lunch (please make your own arrangements)
14.30 Dr Mark Collier, Villainy and Evidence. The Infamous Chief Workman Paneb: what do we really know about him and how do we know this?
15.20 Coffee/tea and biscuits
15.50 Dr Ben Haring, Tombs, papyri and ostraca: historical developments in the royal necropolis administration of the New Kingdom
16.40 Summary of the day’s talks and discussion chaired by Dr Bierbrier
17.00 Amelia Edwards Group Projects Launch - SEE NEXT PAGE

Speakers and Synopses.

Dr Morris Bierbrier is the Editor of Who Was Who in Egyptology and a former curator of the Egyptian Department at the British Museum.

Professor Jac Janssen is Emeritus Professor at the University of Leiden and one of the foremost writers on the economic and social history of Egypt. In year 29 of Ramesses III the workmen of Deir el-Medina left their work and seated themselves near one of the mortuary temples on the edge of the Nile Valley. They complained that they had not received their wages, which were partly paid in food; hence, they were hungry. Professor Janssen will investigate what happened before this strike, and whether or not the situation afterwards was improved.

Dr Karen Exell is Curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum. Ramose was one of the Royal Tomb Scribes, or administrators, of the community of royal workmen at Deir el-Medina. He came into post in year 5 of Ramesses II, and remained there until year 38. Ramose’s period of service mirrors the dynamic first half of the reign of Ramesses II, when a number of royal policies were introduced to re-establish the authority of the kingship following the Amarna period, and to gloss over the non-royal origins of the 19th Dynasty. Through the activities of Ramose, recorded on his numerous monuments, Dr Exell will explore the private life of Ramose, and his role in the implementation of royal policy, and also the narrative of the actions of the king, and their effect on the social life and structure of the community.

Dr Mark Collier is Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. The story of the infamous Chief Workman Paneb is perhaps well known: sex, intrigue, corruption and the abuse of power amongst the workgang building the tombs of the pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings in the late Nineteenth Dynasty. The central piece of evidence is P. Salt 124, increasingly supported by a more refined understanding of the considerable number of late 19th Dynasty ostraca (and some papyri) from the Theban area. Dr Collier will illustrate and discuss key elements of the original evidence, and investigate what new evidence and new research have to contribute to our understanding.

Dr Ben Haring is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures of the Middle East, University of Leiden. When we try to visualise the community of necropolis workmen at Deir el-Medina and its rich documentation, it is usually the (middle or late) 20th Dynasty that dominates the picture because of its wealth of papyri and ostraca. Although there is also much material from earlier periods, it is not as plentiful and diverse, and it becomes more scarce the further we reach back in history. The sources available, however, are suggestive of differences through time in recording practices, and possibly in the organisation of the necropolis workforce as well.

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