When compared with other villages of the time, the settlement at Deir el Medina was atypical. A policy of deliberate seclusion ensured that contact with the world outside was kept to a minimum to ensure the security of the royal tombs but there were benefits. Workers enjoyed a unique status and considerable autonomy due to their contribution to the royal afterlife. Working conditions were favourable and with only a few minor lapses, basic payment in emmer by the government was regular. Additional supplies such as fish, wood for burning, vegetables and pottery were usually more than sufficient for the villagers' needs with any surplus useful for bartering. There were opportunities to earn additional income through the crafting of goods for the wealthy. Villagers were prosperous for the most part with high levels of literacy, unusual for the time.

The village though small and cramped held approximately one hundred and forty houses, seventy of the homes contained within a walled compound. There were also chapels, a law court and a temple to the goddess HetHert (Hathor). Houses were single-storied dwellings arranged in terraces with four to seven rooms, thin mud-brick walls and some stone and wood used in their construction. At the rear of the house, a staircase gave access to the roof which served as an important multi-purpose living space. Due to the contiguous roofing of the terraces, easy navigation thoughout the village at rooftop level would have been possible and may have contributed to a stronger sense of community. In contrast, at ground level beyond the confines of the house, mobility was hampered through overcrowding and the scarcity of thoroughfares.

A visitor to a house in Deir el-Medina would have noted the figure of a deity, often Bes but sometimes Heru (Horus) or Aset (Isis), painted on the external wall. Mounting a number of steps, they would have entered the mud-brick dwelling and found themselves in in the entrance hall. Here they would have found a curious bed-like structure painted with figures of women and the god Bes. Often split into two sections, this first room would have also offered space for ancestor busts and contained an offering table. A stela in a niche would have provided imagery of two generations of ancestors which, for the living generation, would have helped provide a tangible link between this world and the next. Passing beyond it, the next two rooms would have been multi-purpose and probably provided sleeping quarters for the family, a place to eat and keep livestock, access to an underground cellar and also operated as a workshop. Babies who died at birth may have been buried below the floors. At the rear of the house was the kitchen. Here a slave may have ground grain while her mistress tended to the brewing of beer or toiled at the loom creating linen.

The evening of the eight day may have seen the return of the woman's partner from the Valley of the Kings, his eight hour working day behind him. On a summer's evening, as Re descended in the west to enter the underworld, the small family may have eaten their evening meal on the rooftop, their action mirrored by the actions of others along the length of the settlement. Drinking their beer, they may made plans to continue work on their own tombs the following day. For the villagers, life was ordered and secure.

Notable Residents: Neferu Taharqa