Detail of burial chamber's wall decoration, in the tomb of Rameses VI, Valley of the Kings, Necropolis of Thebes, Egypt

"In a departure from tradition, most kings of the 18th Dynasty were buried not in pyramid complexes but in tombs tunneled deep into the limestone cliffs flanking a wadi in Thebes known as the Valley of the Kings (Bībān al-Mulūk). Royal tombs consisted of a series of passages leading via steps and ramps to a burial chamber housing the king's body in a stone sarcophagus." [Freed R.E., markowitz Y.J., D'auria S.H., 1999: Pharaohs of the Sun. Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen. Bulfinch Press / Little, Brown and Company]. "The well-preserved tomb is decorated in painted, sunk relief with scenes from the Book of Gates, Book of Caverns, Book of the Heavenly Cow, Book of the Dead, Imydwat, Book of the Day (burial chamber), Book of the Night (burial chamber), Book of the Earth (burial chamber), the deceased with deities (burial chamber), astronomical scenes, the resurrection of Osiris, deities, and enigmatic compositions. Nearly a thousand graffiti in Greek, Latin, and Coptic are written over the scenes. The tomb as a whole is decorated with a wide variety of texts and scenes." [The Theban Mapping Project]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Institute of Architects, directing the Egyptian portion of the documentary on Ancient Egypt, March 1965 and September 1965.