Historic Qurna on the Theban necropolis is no more, but the reputation of its inhabitants as bandits and thieves lingers on and the site lacks attention. Apart from a few of the most decorative and brightly-decorated mud-brick houses, most of the homes belonging to the people, known as Qurnawis, have been demolished.

Almost 60 mud brick houses were demolished Sunday near tombs in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor after security forces used tear gas to force out residents, according to inhabitants. For the past half century, local authorities and officials in Egypt's antiquities department have been trying to move inhabitants out of the Gurna area adjacent to the Pharaonic era tombs of the Valley of the Kings.