55:
299:
One ostracon describes how many of these deliveries were unfulfilled, where five people's rations were undelivered, totaling to four and three quarters sacks or three hundred and seventy five liters of water gone undelivered. On multiple occasions, the citizens of Deir el-Medina attempted to dig a well, presumably due to their displacement toward the water carriers, but to no avail. The first attempt was during the fifteenth year of
Ramesses III where a hole was dug twenty two meters into the ground, but with no luck. Before digging another, they established the water table sat at thirty one and a half meters, and in a desperate attempt they dug twenty meters past that, to fifty two meters, but again it was futile. With no water in the well, it was used as a dump where hundreds more ostraca were found.
194:
175:
70:
39:
773:
306:
between people were closer to trades than modern transactions. Actual money would rarely change hands, as it was more of a measure of worth for an object and when making a deal, trades between people would consider both the worth of each ends of the trade and whether the items presented were needed.
298:
to a central location in the village where each household could receive a quarter to a half of a sack which would amount to ninety six to one hundred and fifteen liters of water per house. The typical household would have six residents, each would get fifteen to twenty liters of water for drinking.
139:
or even small pieces of stone that have writing scratched into them. Usually these are considered to have been broken off before the writing was added; ancient people used the cheap, plentiful, and durable broken pieces of pottery around them as a convenient medium to write on for a wide variety of
221:
nature such as messages, prescriptions, receipts, students' exercises, and notes. Pottery sherds, limestone flakes, and thin fragments of other stone types were used, but limestone sherds, being flaky and of a lighter colour, were most common. Ostraca were typically small, covered with just a few
278:
The ostraca from Deir el-Medina also differed in their circulation. Magical spells and remedies were widely distributed among the workmen; there are even several cases of spells being sent from one worker to another, with no “trained” intermediary. Written medical texts appear to have been much
256:. These ostraca have shown medical, and documentary records, some of which provide information on how water was provided, and how economic transactions were carried out. The extreme variety of information on ostraca found presents information that would be lost if it weren't written down.
233:
is immense. The combination of their physical nature and the
Egyptian climate have preserved texts, from the medical to the mundane, which in other cultures were lost. These can often serve as better witnesses of everyday life than literary treatises preserved in libraries.
283:, 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
204:
depicted on this limestone fragment bears the finesse of a master's hand. The two arms, however, are rendered more crudely. It is likely that a master used this ostracon to teach his student, and the work of both individuals can be seen on the piece.
152:, when the decision at hand was to banish or exile a certain member of society, citizen peers would cast their vote by writing the name of the person on the shard of pottery; the vote was counted and, if unfavorable, the person was
342:, he lived adjacent to Thoth's sanctuary at the entrance to the North Catacomb and worked as a "proto-therapist", advising and comforting clients. He transferred his divinely-inspired dreams onto ostraca. The Dream Ostraca are 65
54:
307:
Conveniently, most ostraca found in Deir el-Medina were on economics and provide information on what these trades looked like. One such ostracon details a trade with one side offering an ox that was 120
429:. The inscription has yet to be deciphered, however, some words, such as king, slave, and judge have been translated. The sherd was found about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem at the Elah Fortress in
217:
Anything with a smooth surface could be used as a writing surface. Generally discarded material, ostraca were cheap, readily available, and therefore frequently used for writings of an
425:
from the Old
Testament, about 3,000 years ago. Carbon dating of the ostracon and analysis of the pottery have dated the inscription to be about 1,000 years older than the
421:, discovered what he says to be the earliest known Hebrew text. This text was written on an ostracon sherd; Garfinkel believes this sherd dates to the time of
331:
birds interred (as well as cats, dogs, rams, and lions). This 2nd-century BC site contained extensive pottery debris from the site offerings of the pilgrims.
290:
Six people were assigned to Deir el-Medina as "water carriers" who were tasked to bring sacks of water to the village. Having a system in between a central
355:
783:
222:
words or a small picture drawn in ink; but the tomb of the craftsman
Sennedjem at Deir el Medina contained an enormous ostracon inscribed with the
166:. Scholars have suggested that shards from a vote may have been re-used for this purpose, to curse the exiled individual by soiling their name.
910:
311:
and the other offering two jars of fat, five smooth cloth tunics, one thin cloth kilt, and one hide which when put altogether were 130 Deben.
327:'s tomb; instead, the extensive catacombs of animal mummies were uncovered. Apparently it was a pilgrimage site, with as many as 1½ million
945:
825:
806:
619:
588:
563:
243:
62:, son of Hippocrates (inscription: ΜΕΓΑΚΛΕΣ ΗΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΟΣ), 487 BC. On display in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the
915:
889:
447:
193:
418:
275:” who saw patients and prescribed treatments, and a “scorpion charmer” who specialized in magical cures for scorpion stings.
935:
950:
940:
271:. Nevertheless, the records at Deir el-Medina indicate some level of division, as records from the village note both a “
876:
259:
Like other
Egyptian communities, the workmen and inhabitants of Deir el-Medina received care through a combination of
871:
264:
260:
527:
920:
884:
831:. (Specifically, "1964–71: The Sacred Animal Necropolis, Saqqara"; and "1964–65: A Statue Finds Its Face".)
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are believed to have been ostraca, and some potsherds resembling the lots have been found.
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174:
69:
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and door to door deliveries, the water carriers filled sacks and delivered them from the
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308:
218:
163:
78:
38:
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Janssen, Jac. J. (1980). "Absence from Work by the
Necropolis Workmen of Thebes".
857:
Greek
Ostraca from Chersonesos, Crete: Ostraca Cretica Chersonesi (O.Cret.Chers.)
284:
198:
124:
120:
25:
21:
462:
422:
295:
230:
512:
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Emery's excavations uncovered the "Dream
Ostraca", created by a scribe named
847:
Exile, Ostracism, and
Democracy: The Politics of Expulsion in Ancient Greece
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210:
183:
158:
128:
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29:
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Hesperia: The
Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens
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purposes, mostly very short inscriptions, but in some cases very long.
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607:
Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society Under the Ptolemies
581:
Ancient Letters And the New Testament: A Guide to Context and Exegesis
488:
433:, the earliest known fortified city of the biblical period of Israel.
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for a period of ten years from the city, thus giving rise to the term
407:
47:
797:
Parkinson, Richard; Diffie, W.; Fischer, M.; Simpson, R.S. (1999),
776: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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339:
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provide a deeply compelling view into the inner workings of the
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818:
Ancient Egypt: The Great Discoveries: A Year-by-Year Chronicle
103:
94:
837:
Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs
881:, the research publication of the Egyptian Study Society.
558:, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 78,
799:
Cracking Codes: The Rosetta Stone, and Decipherment
528:"This Is How They Wiped Themselves in Ancient Rome"
42:Ostrakon inscribed with "Kimon of Miltiades", for
279:rarer, with only a handful of ostraca containing
610:, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, p.
751:"Archeologist finds 3,000-year old Hebrew text"
697:
695:
885:Archeologist discovers 3000-year old ostracon
8:
801:, Berkeley: University of California Press,
319:From 1964 to 1971, Bryan Emery excavated at
872:Deir el-Medina ostraca in the Petrie Museum
302:Economics were unique in Deir el-Medina as
162:. Broken pottery shards were also used for
20:. For the similarly pronounced city on the
549:
547:
356:List of artifacts significant to the Bible
686:
674:
634:
413:In October 2008, Israeli archaeologist,
346:texts written on pottery and limestone.
53:
35:Broken piece of pottery with inscription
849:, Princeton: Princeton University Press
583:, Baylor University Press, p. 45,
479:
170:Egyptian limestone and potsherd ostraca
745:
743:
489:"The Origin and Purposes of Ostracism"
890:Prize Find: Oldest Hebrew Inscription
73:Ancient Greek ostraca voting for the
7:
792:. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
782:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
14:
839:, Oxford: Oxford University Press
649:Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur
244:Medical Ostraca of Deir el-Medina
771:
406:Additionally, the lots drawn at
178:One of four official letters to
448:Ostracon of Senemut and Djehuty
554:Donadoni, Sergio, ed. (1997),
419:Hebrew University of Jerusalem
229:The importance of ostraca for
1:
911:Archaeological artefact types
820:, London: Thames and Hudson,
526:Silver, Carly (2020-07-24).
115:, usually broken off from a
946:Ancient Egyptian technology
892:Biblical Archaeology Review
861:(Tyche. Supplementband; 6).
579:Klauck, Hans-Josef (2006),
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353:
241:
104:
95:
15:
816:Reeves, Nicholas (2000),
604:Chauveau, Michel (2000),
248:The 91 ostraca found at
916:Egyptian artefact types
855:Litinas, Nikos (2008),
845:Forsdyke, Sara (2005),
835:McDowell, A.G. (2002),
350:Biblical period ostraca
487:Kagan, Donald (1961).
238:Deir el-Medina Ostraca
214:
190:
186:ostracon, in Egyptian
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16:For the journals, see
789:Catholic Encyclopedia
338:A devotee of the god
315:Saqqara Dream Ostraca
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177:
72:
57:
41:
936:Inscriptions by type
859:, Vienna: Holzhausen
719:McDowell 2002, p. 74
710:McDowell 2002, 62-63
701:McDowell 2002, 65–66
364:have been found at:
362:Biblical archaeology
951:Egyptian inventions
941:Textual scholarship
728:McDowell 2002, p.75
360:Famous ostraca for
182:Khay copied onto a
757:, October 30, 2008
336:Hor of Sebennytos.
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207:Walters Art Museum
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784:Christian Ostraka
458:Satirical ostraca
261:medical treatment
18:Ostraka (journal)
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383:Mesad Hashavyahu
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129:epigraphical
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79:Themistocles
58:Ostrakon of
532:JSTOR Daily
285:home remedy
254:New Kingdom
199:New Kingdom
121:earthenware
26:Caspian Sea
22:Volga River
926:Papyrology
900:Categories
766:References
655:: 127–152.
537:2022-11-19
463:Soleto Map
423:King David
354:See also:
296:floodplain
242:See also:
231:Egyptology
50:statesman.
513:0018-098X
273:physician
219:ephemeral
211:Baltimore
184:limestone
159:ostracism
144:Ostracism
135:refer to
131:context,
119:or other
102:, plural
81:in 482 BC
30:Astrakhan
24:near the
906:Ostracon
453:Potsherd
437:See also
373:Tel Arad
188:Hieratic
100:ostrakon
96:ὄστρακον
87:ostracon
60:Megacles
48:Athenian
956:Pottery
780::
417:of the
392:Samaria
378:Lachish
344:Demotic
325:Imhotep
321:Saqqara
292:cistern
267:, and
202:pharaoh
133:ostraca
113:pottery
109:ostraka
105:ὄστρακα
824:
805:
618:
587:
562:
511:
408:Masada
265:prayer
180:vizier
154:exiled
137:sherds
28:, see
474:Notes
371:, or
340:Thoth
309:Deben
269:magic
91:Greek
46:, an
44:Cimon
822:ISBN
803:ISBN
616:ISBN
585:ISBN
560:ISBN
509:ISSN
329:ibis
197:The
117:vase
786:".
755:CNN
501:doi
399:at
390:at
148:In
127:or
85:An
77:of
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89:(
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