Tombs of sacred animals, the cemetary of Ibis birds, Ṣaqqārah, Egypt

The tombs which hold the Ibis run to many, many chambers - the numbers of birds found and still to be excavated has been estimated to run into many millions. Although the tombs in which these mummified birds reside has been known to explorers since the 18th Century it was not until 1966 that the catacomb of these birds was entered properly. The huge numbers of birds mummified and buried here dates back to the Ptolemaic Period, pilgrims came to Saqqara to leave offerings (in the form of ibis mummies) in honour of the 3rd Dynasty architect Imhotep (builder of the Step-Pyramid of Djoser), in the Late Period he was famed as a wise man, healer, 'First Chief one of the Ibis' and deified as the Greek god of Medicine Aesculapius. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon traveled to Egypt in May 1967.