Since many ostraca from the environs of Deir el-Medina lack specific

regnal year dates, dating them precisely is a tricky business. This

volume attempts to provide comparative datings for 78 ostraca (and

papyri) from the late XIXth dynasty. The method draws explicitly on the

division of the gang into two sides and, crucially, makes full use (for

the first time) of the specific ordering of workmen’s names to be found

in documentation from this period.
The archaeological

context of the important body of late XIXth dynasty material from the

Valley of the Kings is investigated and it is shown that the datings

proposed here on comparative grounds correlate strongly with the

grouping of the ostraca by excavation and find-site.
The

work is supported by a comprehensive index of the workmen by source and

a concordance comparing the datings suggested here with those from other

standard reference resources.