Villages and Housing in Egypt

The Ancient Egyptians lived in houses made of bricks. The bricks were made of mud and chopped straw. They mixed mud and straw and then poured the mixture into moulds which were then placed in the sun to bake into hard bricks. The physical environment meant that bricks baked hard outside and did not need to be oven dried. Windows were built high up to let heat escape during the day. Cool air going through the windows at night also helped keep the homes cool.

There were no trees to make the wooden beams needed to construct the houses. The beams had to be imported from other places. Roof timbers were covered with thatch and matting. Thatch is reeds and straw bound together. It was topped with a thick layer of mud plaster

Most of the houses are made of mud bricks because mud is available in abundance along the Nile River bank. There is a shortage of land for houses because people do not want to live in the hot, dry desert or on the fertile ground which is needed to grow food. Due to the shortage of land to build on, the townhouses were usually two or three stories high.

Things have changed little since ancient times. Very often there is no glass in the windows even now, particularly away from the towns.

		In these images it is easy to see the animal shelters under or beside the living accommodation.
.	Along the river bank both ancient housing, made from mud brick and straw, can be seen along with more modern buildings. There are clearly homes for the wealthy...
		...and the poor! The picture on the left shows a home under the brushwood to the right of the picture. The man has just been to wash in the river.
	If the Egyptians can get pots of paint they like to paint their houses in bright colours.
If families own a house, it is extended upwards to provide a flat for the son as soon as he decides to get married.
In towns the housing is all blocks of flats. Young men cannot get married until they have their own flat and it is furnished with kitchen appliances ready for married life. The bride's family traditionally provide the furniture.
	Inside a Nubian house. The courtyard, centrally situated has no roof, but the rooms off to the sides, have one.	The clothes line runs across the courtyard.