Notice the wall above the Sphinx's right "paw" in the
picture above. The wall is part of the bed of limestone from which
the Sphinx was carved. The erosion pattern on this wall comes from
cascading rain. Wind erosion makes a different pattern.
This is strange because the Giza plateau has been bone dry for the
last 6,000 years. So the Sphinx must have been carved no later than
the last time when the northern Sahara Desert had rainy seasons.
And that was over 8,000 years ago!
Other think the Sphinx is even older. It is possible that its origins
will never be revealed.
It has long been believed that the Sphinx had subterranean tunnels
leading to each of the three major pyramids. In October, 1994, a passage
leading to a subterranean area beneath the Sphinx was re-discovered.
In 1987 a Japenese team used an electromagnetic wave method to search
for cavities. Three potential cavities were identified in the area
of the Sphinx.
The face of the Sphinx was thought to be that of the Pharoah Khafre,
the supposed builder. Forensic composite portrait experts, however,
compared a sculpture known to be of Khafre with the face of the Sphinx.
It didn't match. In fact, the face on the Sphinx does not appear to
be of a Hamitic face (like the ancient Egyptians) but more Nilotic,
or Nubian.
Despite the mysteries, the Sphinx remains unperturbed, gazing down
on tourists today with the same enigmatic eyes which watched ancient
Egyptian dynasties rise and fall, religions sweep in one after another,
the troops of Napoleon trot by and the tanks of the Second World War
rumble through.
