Beyond the blueprint: an ancient Egyptian home, redesigned today.
What if you lived 3,000 years ago, in ancient Egypt? What was life like back then? What did houses look like in those days?
Imagine being one of those ancient Egyptian embalmers who prepared the dead for their journey into the afterlife.
Here’s what such a day could have looked like.
As the sun slowly rose above the horizon, a new day began in Siwa for Serka. As always, he started his day by getting water from the nearby well and stopped by the baker to trade some of it for a loaf of bread.
Back home, he ate a piece of his bread and took a cup of water. While he was having breakfast, a black crow joined him on his patio. He looked at the bird with interest before softly asking:
“Did you come to deliver a message, my friend?”
The crow, of course, didn’t answer. It simply tilted its head and looked at the piece of bread in Serka’s hand.
Noticing the bird’s gaze, Serka smiled.
“Of course. You want a piece too.”
He pulled off a small piece of bread and gently fed it to the bird, after which the crow stayed close by.
While Serka finished his breakfast, he noticed a man approaching his home. He recognized him immediately. The one man whose arrival always meant that Serka’s quiet day was suddenly about to become a busy one.
As the man reached Serka’s house, Serka got up and walked towards the porch at the end of the paved path. Meeting him there, Serka greeted him and asked:
“What news do you have for me, Mogul?”
For a moment, Mogul said nothing. Then he spoke.
“I’ve come to tell you that something happened overnight. Far away, beyond the dunes of the desert, the reigning king has passed away. They need someone to prepare his body for the journey into the afterlife, and they want you to take care of the ceremony.”
Serka remained silent for a moment. He looked up at the sky and softly whispered:
“The king has passed away?”
He then looked back at Mogul.
“It will be an honor, my friend. I’ll make sure the king passes safely into the Field of Reeds.”
Mogul nodded, thanked Serka, then turned around and headed back the way he had come.
Serka spent the rest of the day preparing himself for the long journey across the desert and its dunes. He loaded his camel with the most important supplies he would need for the ceremony.
As the sun slowly disappeared beyond the horizon, he had one last drink of water before heading to bed, preparing himself for the journey ahead.
3,000 years later…
The sun still rises over the same desert. The dunes still move with the wind, and somewhere in the distance, people still start their day as they have done for thousands of years.
But Serka is gone.
His camel is gone. Mogul no longer walks down the path towards his house. The baker who once traded him bread for water has disappeared into history too.
And the little house?
Only its remains are still there.
Yet ruins don’t necessarily mean the end of a story.
What if we went beyond the blueprint?
This is my idea of how this ancient ruin, which was once a house, can be restored to modern day glory:
And if we take the story of this house even further, here’s what it might look like today:
A writer named John found this place and decided to rebuild the house as it might have looked in the old days, but with today’s technology incorporated into its design.
He didn’t rebuild it out of the blue, though. After careful research and analysis, John discovered some solid clues about what the house might once have looked like. Thanks to the people who still lived nearby, he also learned the story of Serka and the life that had once unfolded within these walls.
And so, piece by piece, he brought the old house back to life, respecting its original design while carefully incorporating a modern-day blueprint into it.
An ancient home, rebuilt for a modern life.