On the Location of the Administrative Outpost of the Community of Workmen in Western Thebes

Abstract

In a recent publication (R. Ventura, Living in a City of the Dead), it was claimed that p, ḥtm n p, ḥr was the administrative outpost of the community of workmen at the Royal Theban Necropolis, and that its location should be sought near the Ramesseum. The following article provides additional evidence for the location of the ḥtm, which substantiates that conclusion. It is based upon P. Turin 1923 + fragments rt. 2–8 which mention p, ḥtm n p, ḥr in connection with the digging of a well. Combining the numerical data from altitude measurements given in the papyrus with other documentary and topographical pieces of evidence, the author concludes that: (a) the well being dug (under Ramesses VI) was Bruyère's ‘Grand Puits’, near the northern entrance of the wadi of Deir el-Medina; (b) the ḥtm was situated on the slope leading from the Ramesseum to Deir el-Medina, within 300 m of the south-western corner of the tetnenos of the Ramesseum.