The ancient Egyptians loved beautiful object, and the craft items that have survived still amaze today. There are shining gold rings and pendants, necklaces inlaid with glass and dazzing blue pottery called faience. Jars made a smooth white stone called alabaster have been preserved in almoust perfect condition, along with chairs and chests made of cedar wood imported from the Near East.

Egyptians made beautiful baskets and storage pots. Some pottery was made from river clay, but the finest pots were made from chalky clay found at Quena. Pots were shaped by hand or, later, on a potter's wheel.

Some were polished with a smooth pebble until their surface shone. We know so much about ancient Egyptians craft work because many beautiful items were placed in tombs, so that the dead person could use the in the next world.

Skilled Workers.

In ancient Egypt, skilled workers formed a middle class between the poor labors and the rich officials and nobles. Wall paintings and models show precious metals. There were boat builders and chariot makers, too.

Artists and craft workers could be well rewarded for their skills, and some became famous for their work. The house and workshops of a sculptor called thutmose was excavated in el-Amarna in 1912. He was very successful in his career and was a favorite of the royal family.

Craft workers often lived in their own part of town. A special village was built at Deir el-Medina, near Thebes, of the builders of the magnificent, but secret, royal tombs. Among the 100 or so houses there, archeologists found delivery notes for goods, sketches and plans drawn on broken pottery. Working conditions cannot always have been very good, for records show that the workers once went on strike. They may well have helped to rob the tombs that they themselves had built.