Consider the differences of the economy in our world and the economy in the Ancient worlds with no money and no shops.

The concept of ‘economy’ in Ancient Egypt was fundamentally different from what we understand by economy.

Main factors:

•  non-existence of money

• mentality of the Ancient Egyptians

The needs of the people were much simpler, but at the same time there was a high proportion of ‘conspicuous consumption’ (amassing wealth to show off, not saving money). 

• different environment

Earning a living = one aspect of the economy

- in general, there are very few documents dealing with how simple Egyptians earned a living
- most of the information comes from the official documents, written by the high officials and administrators, and the representations in the tombs cannot be considered to be a true representation of the real life

Deir el-Medina is the only place where the common people documented the real economy (earning a living – employment and self-employment or supplementary employment, barter trade and prices)

•  this is the only place in the Ancient world where this information was recorded and preserved and enabled us to learn so much about the life of a simple village community

Reasons:

• exceptional location

DeM is a secluded community in the desert, where the documentary evidence can be accumulated and preserved (dry environment as opposed to humid conditions on the floodplain; the use of ostraca – not papyrus^/1 - which were preserved in the Great pit)

• exceptional rate of literacy

Almost everyone could either read and write or at least understand simple writing. Also remember, that the drawing can be used as effectively as writing – as in the ‘laundry list’ drawn on an ostracon (McDowell 1999, p.61)

/¹ contrary to the widespread belief, papyrus was not expensive in Ancient Egypt (proof in Jac. Janssen’s Commodity prices), but it was almost absolutely unavailable to common people. The production was controlled by the administration, which used the papyrus in great quantities. In DeM the papyrus is used for final official reports (partial lists and accounts being written on ostraca) and for medical/magical recipes and spells.

Ostraca – limestone chips or pottery sherds
From Deir el-Medina 3000+ known, probably 5000+ all together (according to J. Janssen). Most in French Institute and published by French scholars, see the last publication: GRANDET, P. Catalogue des ostraca hiératiques non littéraires de Deir el-Medinéh. Tome X. Nos 10001-10123 (Cairo 2006 IF 945). (GBP 50.00 in Museum Books)

DeM ostraca yield a lot of hieratic texts, which deal with the economy:

- lists of absences from work
- lists of deliveries (such as Papyrus Greg)
- prices for hiring the donkeys
- lists of laundry taken for washing
- receipts of goods and services
- debt/credit notes

Ancient world relied on ‚subsistence economy‘

There are various ways in which people can get what they need:

- farmers producing the food
- women weaving and sewing the cloths
- men building their houses
- children running errands
- craftsmen producing goods like furniture, pots or copper tools and utensils (there was probably one village potter and one smith, more carpenters)

Cattle raised outside the village (not possible to keep it inside the narrow walls). Many families had a donkey and some had a cow.

Wages 

Tomb builders got paid the basic income from the government in grain, for everything else there was a well functioning barter system among the villagers.

Wages in grain for each worker once a month: 4 sacks of emmer (egyptian sort of wheat) and 1 ½ sacks of barley.

Values

Sack – KHAR = 77 litres
¼ of KHAR = ‚oipe‘
Deben = 91 gr. of copper
Sniw (sinu) = silver (the exact value not known /²)

- basket valued in grain, since you can put grain in it
- tools valued in copper
- text: „Fifteen donkey loads of water worth ¾ of a Khar“

/² Consider this: British pound (£) is nowadays only a symbol of its old value – it used to be a pound of silver in weight. See Pound in Classic Encyclopaedia

• Interesting links 

Measuring volume (Digital Egypt UCL)

Wages and Prices (Ancient Egypt)

Counting and measuring  (Ancient Egypt)

Weights and measures (Tour Egypt)

Prices, wages and payments (Tour Egypt)

Ostracon UC 39606 (front) See more
Published in: Cerny/Gardiner 1957: 5, pl. 16.3 (ostracon Petrie 3)

Ostracon UC 39606 with Cerny's hieroglyphic transcription

A receipt for the workman Penamun, who sold an ox (bull) to the policeman Amenmose (Amenmes) for:
- 1 large jar of fat worth 30 deben
- fine linen dresses worth 10 deben
- 5 deben of copper
- oil worth 5 deben

„Total silver/³ that he gave for it: 50 deben“

/³ this doesn’t mean silver metal, but ‚price‘

See more in the two key texts .

So, what did the villagers in Deir el-Medina live from?

- regular earning for their services to the Pharaoh
- extra earning for any goods or services exchanged with other villagers
- the village got almost daily supply of some cakes and loafs from the temples
- villagers also got regular presents from the Pharaoh on special occasions (religious festivals, marriage or birthday of the king). This would be oil, salt, natron soap, imported beer from Syria, meat or garments (partial redistribution of the state collections – taxes /⁴)

/⁴ taxes were paid in material or days of work

Local business in DeM:

- no shops and only one market by the riverbank (where ships with foreign objects stopped, sometimes villagers sold their goods – like garments – on the market)
- barter trade: both parties buy and sell at the same time (if the other doesn’t have goods you need, debt is incurred and a credit can be given instead)

Examples of the type of ostraca with prices of commodities

• O. BM 5649
  
  

• O. BM 5633, rt.