in 1998 archeologists talena powell in
Grutter was clearing a section of land
that had previously not been excavated
she came across the foundations of some
small stone house there on a fragment of
limestone
she found a sketch drawn by one of the
ancient tomb builders a snapshot of life
and work in the valley
it shows the entrance of the tomb and it
shows the architectural features like a
door and walls and inside our person
sitting on the scaffold and hammering on
the wall with the chisel and the hammer
and the two are sitting and the other
persons are carrying the debris the
stones the dust out under them it is
exactly something that we do now when we
restore or work in the tombs the
fragment helped identify the huts as
houses for the men who worked on the
tombs
other similar sketches have been found
in the area some show architects plans
for the toons summer dry runs for their
decoration others relate to everyday
life the limestone flakes were also used
as makeshift notepads they reveal a
highly organized set up with a scribe
keeping detailed records of supplies
arriving on site and the progress made
each day they even had a method of
timekeeping we know that the ancient
workmen worked in two gangs left gang
and a right gang digging and then
carrying the broken stone at the doorway
they lit their work with small bowls
filled with oil in which they would
float a tightly wrapped linen wick and
the wick would be cut to a certain
length so that as the day progressed and
the wick burned down when it stopped it
was time for lunch after lunch a new
wick more oil and after it burned down
it was time to go home the scribe also
kept an attendance record
many many times we have a complete
workman’s list on these flakes and there
is a list of names and it is written one
was absent because his mother was ill
the other one was absent because he had
to go in the feast or third one had to
go with the Furman Foreman to work
somewhere else it’s not only possible to
see how these men were there are also
enough clues to create a detailed view
of their homelands
Grutter was clearing a section of land
that had previously not been excavated
she came across the foundations of some
small stone house there on a fragment of
limestone
she found a sketch drawn by one of the
ancient tomb builders a snapshot of life
and work in the valley
it shows the entrance of the tomb and it
shows the architectural features like a
door and walls and inside our person
sitting on the scaffold and hammering on
the wall with the chisel and the hammer
and the two are sitting and the other
persons are carrying the debris the
stones the dust out under them it is
exactly something that we do now when we
restore or work in the tombs the
fragment helped identify the huts as
houses for the men who worked on the
tombs
other similar sketches have been found
in the area some show architects plans
for the toons summer dry runs for their
decoration others relate to everyday
life the limestone flakes were also used
as makeshift notepads they reveal a
highly organized set up with a scribe
keeping detailed records of supplies
arriving on site and the progress made
each day they even had a method of
timekeeping we know that the ancient
workmen worked in two gangs left gang
and a right gang digging and then
carrying the broken stone at the doorway
they lit their work with small bowls
filled with oil in which they would
float a tightly wrapped linen wick and
the wick would be cut to a certain
length so that as the day progressed and
the wick burned down when it stopped it
was time for lunch after lunch a new
wick more oil and after it burned down
it was time to go home the scribe also
kept an attendance record
many many times we have a complete
workman’s list on these flakes and there
is a list of names and it is written one
was absent because his mother was ill
the other one was absent because he had
to go in the feast or third one had to
go with the Furman Foreman to work
somewhere else it’s not only possible to
see how these men were there are also
enough clues to create a detailed view
of their homelands
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