During excavation, a covered doorway has been built over each burial chamber so that exposure to the environment can be controlled. It gives the necropolis a strange sense of inhabitation, as though some hermit-like bunch lives in a secret village at the bottom of the staircases. Which, in a way, they once did.

Some of the wall paintings are behind plexiglass to keep humidity or temperature constant, but many are open for exploration without restraint. I notice soda cans, cigarette butts, plastic wrappers discreetly tucked away in some of them. Figures.