The Age And Controversy Of The Sphinx

Photo by Gayle Karen, distributed under a CC license.

When we think of Egypt probably the first two things that come to mind are the Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx of Giza. Both amazing structures that with stood the test of time.

While you would think the Sphinx is made of multiple slabs of stone that is actually incorrect. The Sphinx is extremely old and had several restorations both in antiquity and in modern times,hence additional stones had to be added over the centuries.

It is believed that the sphinx around 4500 years old and it was commissioned by the Pharaoh Khafre. This massive statue represents the body of a lion with a head of a human of which supposedly represents Khafre himself.

Back in the early 90’s an independent group of researchers sought to change such believes. John Anthony West came across a theory that suggested that the signs of erosion on the back of the sphinx were more indicative of being caused by rain fall rather than from wind and sand.(Since Egypt hadn’t seen any significant source of rain for 10,000 years this would push the age of the sphinx dramatically) He decided the best approach was to

Photo by Khufu.JPG, distributed under a CC license.

get the expertise from a geologist rather than from an Egyptogist.

Geologist DR Robert Schoch decided that he was give this theory a shot. To his amazement he kept finding signs of rain fall erosion and even ancient repairs nearly as old as the official estimated age of the Sphinx itself. In his eyes he just couldn’t picture the artists sculpting and repairing the Sphinx at the same time.

The researchers even contested the claim that the head of the Sphinx represented Khafre himself and that the features of the head of the sphinx represented more a black African King. They also went as far as theorizing that there was a good chance that the head might have been recarved at least once.

Eventually this led to a face off between geologists and Egyptologist. In the debate Dr Mark Lehner took the Egyptogilist’s side and faced DR Robert Schoch and his evidence. While Robert Schoch got a massive support from his fellow geologists, the Egyptologists stuck to their guns. In their opinion there was simply not enough proof.

Photo by A. Parrot, distributed under a CC license.

Eventually this led to a T.V special called “The Mystery of The Sphinx” which was hosted by Charlton Heston.

One should mention that there have been many other so called theories regarding the sphinx which have been suggested over the years.

The clairvoyant Edgar Casey during one of his meditative states suggested that a repository of knowledge was stored by the foot of the sphinx.

Another theory which which got some attention was that maybe the Sphinx’s head itself was actually carved in honor of Khufu. Only a small statue remains that

depicts Khufu, when observed one does have to admit that Khufu does show more features which resemble the face of the sphinx.