Sphinx water erosion hypothesis

Last updated

The Great Sphinx of Giza Sphinx with the third pyramid.jpg
The Great Sphinx of Giza

The Sphinx water erosion hypothesis is a fringe claim, contending that the Great Sphinx of Giza and its enclosing walls eroded primarily due to ancient floods or rainfalls, attributing their creation to Plato's lost civilization of Atlantis over 11,500 years ago. [1] [2]

Contents

Egyptologists, geologists and others have rejected the water erosion hypothesis and the idea of an older Sphinx, pointing to archaeological, climatological and geological evidence to the contrary. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

History

In the 1950s, French mystic [9] [10] and alternative Egyptologist Schwaller de Lubicz speculated the body of the Sphinx to be eroded by deluges and that therefore the Sphinx must predate them, further claiming that ancient Egyptian knowledge originated from colonists or refugees of Plato's sunken continent of Atlantis. [1] [2]

In 1979, author and alternative Egyptologist John Anthony West, inspired by Schwaller's ideas, attributed the erosion to Nile floods between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. By denying the existence of any evidence for the development of Egyptian civilization prior to the first dynasty, West created room to inject the idea of a lost, advanced civilization of Atlanteans who created the Sphinx and passed on their knowledge to the dynastic Egyptians. [11]

Ten years later, West sought the opinion of geologist Robert Schoch to validate his claims. In 1990 they traveled together to Egypt, visiting the Sphinx. The following year Schoch formulated and presented his version of the hypothesis, [12] purposely avoiding the use of the word "Atlantis". [13] [14] He originally estimated the Sphinx to have been created before 5000 BC, later pushing his minimum estimate further back to 9700 BC, once again aligning it with Plato's lost civilization of Atlantis. [12] [15] [16]

Dating the Sphinx

Sphinx and Sphinx Temple (right), Khafre Valley Temple with causeway running past the Sphinx (left) Kahfre valley sphinx.svg
Sphinx and Sphinx Temple (right), Khafre Valley Temple with causeway running past the Sphinx (left)

Archaeological context

The Sphinx is positioned north of the lower end of the causeway of Khafre that connects his Pyramid- and Valley Temple. It was created by carving it out of the bedrock, cutting blocks from around its body which were used to construct the Sphinx Temple immediately east of the Sphinx and north of the Valley Temple, aligned to it. [17]

Evidence suggests that both the Sphinx and its temple were created only after Khafre's Valley Temple and causeway:

Peter Lacovara, an Egyptologist and curator at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, assigns "some of the erosional features" on the enclosure walls to quarrying activities rather than weathering. [22]

Causeway

The causeway connecting Khafre's Pyramid and Valley Temple is not oriented to the cardinal directions but runs slanted. The southern wall of the Sphinx enclosure respects this orientation.

Sphinx Temple and Khafre Valley Temple

Luminescence dating of the two temples gave dates for the middle to late third millennium BC, concurring with the chronological estimates for Khafre and the 4th dynasty and the radiocarbon dates for the pyramids of Giza. Some samples indicated New Kingdom intrusions into the temples. [23] As such, the Dream Stele between the paws of the Sphinx might have been originally a door lintel of Khafre's valley or pyramid temple.

Several hieroglyphic inscriptions were found on the walls of the Khafre temples. [24] as well as several statues of Khafre or fragments thereof. [25]

Schoch argues that the casing was applied long after the core structure was built, stating that "granite facing [of the Sphinx and Valley Temple] is covering deeply weathered limestone [that was] slightly cut back and smoothed out [but not enough] to make the wall perfectly smooth". [26] Lehner responded that the limestone wasn't deeply weathered, but that it was cut back irregularly to fit the harder granite facade to it, pointing to the Menkaure Pyramid Temple where the technique can be clearly seen. [4]

Missing archaeological evidence for an earlier civilization

Mark Lehner when asked about the possibility of an earlier civilization replied, "Well, it's not impossible, but it has a very, very low level of probability, that there was an older civilization there." [27] Other archaeologists who have made similar criticisms include Kenneth Feder. Feder wrote:

there is no evidence whatsoever for a culture capable of building the Great Sphinx much before the traditionally accepted date. A large and impressive monument like the Great Sphinx cannot have built itself; there must have been a social and practical infrastructure in place to accomplish that task. In other words, only a culture with a pattern of social stratification and the capability to enlist the labor of a large pool of workers would have been capable of building the Great Sphinx, and for the period predating 2500 bce, there is no evidence at all of such a culture—no complex settlements with substantial populations, no social hierarchy reflected in inequality in housing or burials. There is no sign at all of an infrastructure necessary to support a large population of workers, no sign of the ability to produce a large agricultural surplus to feed the construction workers, no evidence of dormitories for housing them, no huge storage facilities for food, no great bakeries, no cemeteries in which to bury the workers who would have died during the construction project. [28]

Erosion

Erosion on the front body of the Sphinx and the enclosure behind. Weathering on the head and neck was repaired in the 1920s. Great Sphinx of Giza, Giza, Egypt6.jpg
Erosion on the front body of the Sphinx and the enclosure behind. Weathering on the head and neck was repaired in the 1920s.

Pre-Sphinx erosion

Schoch argues that the Giza Plateau is "criss crossed with fractures or joints millions of years old" and that "fissures such as those on the Sphinx enclosure wall can only be produced by water, primarily precipitation, and do bear on the age of the Sphinx." [29]

Geoscientist Jørn Christiansen agrees that at least some of the erosion took place before the Sphinx was carved. Stating that water most likely seeped through natural fissures in the limestone before the Sphinx had been carved, causing the walls of the Sphinx enclosure to look like they were carved much earlier than they really were. As such, Christiansen determined that there was no geological evidence to suggest the Sphinx was carved earlier than any other monuments on the Giza plateau. [30]

Hawass points to the poor quality of much of the Giza limestone as the basis for the significant erosion levels. [31]

Water erosion

Vertical weathering on the body of the Sphinx Pyramids5.jpg
Vertical weathering on the body of the Sphinx

After an investigation of the enclosure's geology, Schoch concluded that the most prominent weathering pattern was caused by prolonged and extensive rainfall, pointing to the well-developed undulating vertical profile on the enclosure walls. [12] Further stating that "many of the vertical and inclined solution features follow [preexisting] joints and faults in the bedrock", referencing the absence of such features on other rock surfaces in the Giza pyramid complex. [32] Other geologists, such as Gauri, disagreed and argued for different erosion forces or a combination of such.

Schoch contends that because the last period of significant rainfall seemingly ended between the late fourth and early 3rd millennium BC, [33] the Sphinx's construction must date to 5000 BC or earlier, [29] [32] [34] However, new geoarchaeological evidence suggests the occurrence of heavy rainfalls until the end of the Old Kingdom, circa 2200 BC. [5] Hawass criticizes that Schoch "never demonstrates why the rainfall over the last 4,500 years would not be sufficient to round off the corners", pointing to the many downpours at Giza over the past decades. [35]

A recent study by Rudolph Kuper and Stefan Kröpelin, of the University of Cologne suggest the change from a wet to an arid climate in the Sahara happened gradually with climate changes taking place on a north-to-south gradient. According to this study, arid conditions began in the Egyptian Sahara by 5300 BC. These desert conditions gradually extended to the south with Northern Sudan experiencing an arid climate circa 1500 BC. [36] Egyptologist Mark Lehner believes this climate change may have been responsible for the severe weathering found on the Sphinx and other sites of the 4th Dynasty. After studying sediment samples in the Nile Valley, Judith Bunbury, a geologist at the University of Cambridge, concluded that climate change in the Giza region may have begun early in the Old Kingdom, with desert sands arriving in force late in the era. [37]

Recently, Schoch pushed back his minimum estimate 5000 years further back, to around the end of the last ice age. [15] [16]

Haloclasty

Due to the Sphinx lying closely above the Nile aquifer, capillary action moves groundwater to the surface of the stone. During this process salt contained in the limestone is dissolved and drawn to the surface where it crystallises. The expanding crystals cause fine layers of surface limestone to flake off. It is accepted by Schoch et al. that this mechanism is evident in many places on the Giza Plateau. One proponent of the haloclasty process is Dr James A. Harrell of the University of Toledo, who advocates that the deep erosion crevices were caused by the haloclasty process being driven by moisture in the sand that covered the carved rock for much of the time since it was exposed by quarrying. [26] Lal Gauri et al. [38] also favour the haloclasty process to explain the erosion features, but have theorised that the weathering was driven by moisture deriving from atmospheric precipitation such as dew.

Analysis of the Sphinx's bedrock by the Getty Conservation Institute (1990–1992) concluded that "Continual salt crystallization, which has a destructive effect on the stone, would explain at least some of the deterioration of the Sphinx." [39] [40]

Haloclasty is rejected as an explanation for the vertical erosion features by Schoch because it does not explain all the visible evidence, namely that the water erosion features are not evenly distributed, being concentrated in those areas that would have been particularly exposed to running water, whereas the haloclasty process should have operated evenly on all exposed limestone surfaces. [26]

Wind erosion

Schoch states that wind erosion forms distinctive horizontal bands, whereas the water erosion features are clearly vertical. [26]

Comparisons to other structures

Hawass stated that from the present-day rapid rate of erosion on the Member II surface of the Sphinx, that "[t]he eleven hundred years between Khafre and the first major restoration in the Eighteenth Dynasty, or even half this time, would have been more than enough to erode the Member II into the deep recesses behind Phase I restoration masonry". [31]

Schoch and West argued that other structures and surfaces on the Giza Plateau are made from the same band of limestone as the Sphinx enclosure, but do not show the same erosion as the walls of the Sphinx enclosure and that unspecified early dynastic mudbrick mastabas at Saqqara (close to Giza) have survived relatively undamaged, which lead them to conclude that no heavy rainfall has occurred in the region since the Early Dynastic Period. [41] [42]

Reader replied to this, stating that these structures "were built on an area of high ground and do not lie within any natural catchment. These tombs will not, therefore, have been exposed to any significant run-off." He concludes that "the fact that they are not significantly degraded, as Schoch has pointed out, demonstrates that rainfall itself has not been a significant agent of degradation in Egypt." [43] Rainfall water run-off, however, has been a more significant factor. Reader cites evidence of flood water damage in another location to illustrate this. [44] [45]

Lehner responded that these tombs were protected from erosion by sand and debris for most of their history, asking Schoch and West to clarify which mastabas they were referring to exactly. [4]

Head size

Various authors, like Schoch and Temple, have asserted that the head of the Sphinx is too small for its body, concluding it was recarved. Lehner argued that the head is primarily too small in relation to the length of the body, suggesting that without elongating the body the builders wouldn't have been able to complete the latter part of the Sphinx, due to a large natural fissure that cuts through the bedrock. [46]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Pyramid of Giza</span> Largest pyramid in the Giza Necropolis, Egypt

The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It served as the tomb of pharaoh Khufu, who ruled during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Built c. 2600 BC, over a period of about 26 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only wonder that has remained largely intact. It is the most famous monument of the Giza pyramid complex, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Memphis and its Necropolis". It is situated at the northeastern end of the line of the three main pyramids at Giza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Djoser</span> Archeological site in Egypt

The pyramid of Djoser, sometimes called the Step Pyramid of Djoser, is an archaeological site in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the ruins of Memphis. It is the first pyramid to be built. The 6-tier, 4-sided structure is the earliest colossal stone building in Egypt. It was built in the 27th century BC during the Third Dynasty for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser. The pyramid is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Kingdom of Egypt</span> Period of history (c. 2686–2181 BC)

In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynasty, such as King Sneferu, under whom the art of pyramid-building was perfected, and the kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, who commissioned the construction of the pyramids at Giza. Egypt attained its first sustained peak of civilization during the Old Kingdom, the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khafre</span> Ancient Egyptian pharaoh of 4th dynasty

Khafre or Chephren was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the fourth pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, during the earlier half of the Old Kingdom period. He was son of the pharaoh Khufu, and succeeded his brother Djedefre to the throne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Sphinx of Giza</span> Limestone statue of a reclining sphinx

The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. Facing directly from west to east, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt. The face of the Sphinx appears to represent the pharaoh Khafre. The original shape of the Sphinx was cut from bedrock, and has since been restored with layers of limestone blocks. It measures 73 m (240 ft) long from paw to tail, 20 m (66 ft) high from the base to the top of the head and 19 m (62 ft) wide at its rear haunches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepseskaf</span> Last Egyptian pharaoh of the 4th dynasty

Shepseskaf was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt, the sixth and probably last ruler of the fourth dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. He reigned most probably for four but possibly up to seven years in the late 26th to mid-25th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Khafre</span> Smooth-sided pyramid in Giza, Egypt

The pyramid of Khafre or of Chephren is the middle of the three Ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza, the second tallest and second largest of the group. It is the only pyramid out of the three that still has cladding at the top. It is the tomb of the Fourth-Dynasty pharaoh Khafre (Chefren), who ruled c. 2558−2532 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Menkaure</span> Smallest main pyramid of Giza in Egypt

The pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three main pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex, located on the Giza Plateau in the southwestern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. It is thought to have been built to serve as the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty Pharaoh Menkaure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giza pyramid complex</span> Archaeological site near Cairo, Egypt

The Giza pyramid complex in Egypt is home to the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure, along with their associated pyramid complexes and the Great Sphinx. All were built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, between c. 2600 – c. 2500 BC. The site also includes several temples, cemeteries, and the remains of a workers' village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Lehner</span> American archaeologist

Mark Lehner is an American archaeologist with more than 30 years of experience excavating in Egypt. He is the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) and has appeared in numerous television documentaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giza Plateau</span> Site of the largest known collection of pyramids, in Egypt

The Giza Plateau is a limestone plateau in Giza, Egypt, the site of the Fourth Dynasty Giza pyramid complex, which includes the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, the Great Sphinx, several cemeteries, a workers' village and an industrial complex. It forms the northernmost part of the 16,000 ha Pyramid Fields in the Western Desert edge of the Nile Valley that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Memphis and its Necropolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert M. Schoch</span> American geologist

Robert Milton Schoch is an American associate professor of Natural Sciences at the College of General Studies, Boston University. Following initial work as a vertebrate paleontologist, Schoch co-authored and expanded the fringe Sphinx water erosion hypothesis since 1990, and is the author of several pseudohistorical and pseudoscientific books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall of Records</span> Mythical library under the Great Sphinx of Giza

The Hall of Records is a purported ancient library that is claimed to exist underground near the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt. The concept originated with claims made by Edgar Cayce, an American who claimed to be clairvoyant and was a forerunner of the New Age movement. He said in the 1930s that refugees from Atlantis built the Hall of Records at Giza to preserve their knowledge. Cayce's assertions had many precursors, particularly the pseudohistorical theories about Atlantis that Ignatius Donnelly promulgated in the late 19th century, as well as claims about hidden passages at Giza that date back to medieval times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Construction of the Egyptian pyramids</span>

The construction of the Egyptian pyramids can be explained with well-established scientific facts, however there are some aspects that are even today considered controversial hypotheses. The construction techniques used seem to have developed over time; later pyramids were not constructed in the same way as earlier ones. Most of the construction hypotheses are based on the belief that huge stones were carved from quarries with copper chisels, and these blocks were then dragged and lifted into position. Disagreements chiefly concern the methods used to move and place the stones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Userkaf</span> Egyptian pyramid

The pyramid complex of Userkaf was built c. 2490 BC for the pharaoh Userkaf, founder of the 5th Dynasty of Egypt. It is located in the pyramid field at Saqqara, on the north-east of the step pyramid of Djoser. Constructed in dressed stone with a core of rubble, the pyramid is now ruined and resembles a conical hill in the sands of Saqqara. For this reason, it is known locally as El-Haram el-Maharbish, the "Heap of Stone", and was recognized as a royal pyramid by western archaeologists in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Sahure</span> Fifth Dynasty Egyptian pyramid complex

The pyramid of Sahure is a pyramid complex built in the late 26th to 25th century BC for the Egyptian pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty. It introduced a period of pyramid building by Sahure's successors in Abusir, on a location earlier used by Userkaf for his sun temple. The site was first thoroughly excavated by Ludwig Borchardt between March 1907 and 1908, who wrote the standard work Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Sahu-Re between 1910 and 1913.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orion correlation theory</span> Fringe hypothesis in alternative Egyptology

The Orion correlation theory is a fringe theory in Egyptology attempting to explain the arrangement of the Giza pyramid complex.

The Headless Pyramid, otherwise identified as Lepsius XXIX, is the remain of a pyramid complex built in Saqqara. The identity of the pyramid owner is unclear, though it is suspected to belong to either pharaoh Menkauhor of the Fifth Dynasty or pharaoh Merikare of the Tenth Dynasty, both of whom are known to have built a pyramid. If associated with Menkauhor, the pyramid's name is Nṯr-ỉswt Mn-kꜣw-ḥr meaning 'Divine are the places of Menkauhor'; if associated with Merikare, the pyramid's name is Wꜣḏ-swt Mry-kꜣ-rꜥ meaning 'Fresh are the places of Merikare'. Other candidates for the pyramid owner that have been proposed are Amenemhat I of the Twelfth Dynasty and an ephemeral pharaoh Ity of the Eighth Dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Desert</span> Egyptian part of the Libyan Desert

In Egypt, the Western Desert is an area of the Sahara that lies west of the river Nile, up to the Libyan border, and south from the Mediterranean Sea to the border with Sudan. It is named in contrast to the Eastern Desert which extends east from the Nile to the Red Sea. The Western Desert is mostly rocky desert, though an area of sandy desert, known as the Great Sand Sea, lies to the west against the Libyan border. The desert covers an area of 680,650 km2 (262,800 sq mi) which is two-thirds of the land area of the country. Its highest elevation is 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in the Gilf Kebir plateau to the far south-west of the country, on the Egypt-Sudan-Libya border. The Western Desert is barren and uninhabited save for a chain of oases which extend in an arc from Siwa, in the north-west, to Kharga in the south. It has been the scene of conflict in modern times, particularly during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyramid of Khentkaus I</span> Step tomb of a Fourth Dynasty queen

The pyramid of Khentkaus I or step tomb of Khentkaus I is a Fourth Dynasty two-stepped tomb built for the Queen Mother Khentkaus I in Giza. The tomb, built in two phases coinciding with its two steps, was originally known as the fourth pyramid of Giza. In the first phase, a nearly square block of bedrock, around which the stone had been quarried for the Giza pyramids, was utilised to construct her tomb and encased with fine white Tura limestone. In the second phase, most likely in the Fifth Dynasty, her tomb was enlarged with a large limestone structure built on top of the bedrock block. The Egyptologist Miroslav Verner suggests that this may have been intended to convert her tomb into a pyramid, but was abandoned as a result of stability concerns. South-west of the tomb was a long boat pit, which housed the Night boat of Re. A companion day boat has not been found. A chapel was built into the tomb superstructure, with a large granite entrance bearing the queen's name and titles. One of her titles was of particular interest because it had not been known of prior to its discovery at her tomb.

References

  1. 1 2 "A great civilization must have preceded the vast movements of water that passed over Egypt, which leads us to assume that the Sphinx already existed, sculptured in the rock of the west cliff at Gizeh, that Sphinx whose leonine body, except for the head, shows indisputable signs of aquatic erosion." in, R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Sacred Science: The King of Pharaonic Theocracy (New York: Inner Traditions International, 1982. ISBN   0-89281-007-6). Originally published entitled Le Roi de la Théocratie Pharaonique (Paris: Flammarion, 1961).
  2. 1 2 West, John Anthony (1979). Serpent in the Sky.
  3. ↑ "Why Sequence is Important", Lehner, Mark; Hunt, Brian V. link Archived 26 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1 2 3 Lehner, Mark (1994). "Notes and Photographs on the West-Schoch Sphinx Hypothesis". KMT. 5–3: 40–48.
  5. 1 2 Welc, Fabian; Marks, Leszek (2014). "Climate change at the end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt around 4200 BP: New geoarchaeological evidence". Quaternary International. 324: 124–133. Bibcode:2014QuInt.324..124W. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.035.
  6. ↑ "Sphinx Project « Ancient Egypt Research Associates". 10 September 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  7. ↑ Dunford, Jane; Fletcher, Joann; French, Carole (ed., 2007). Egypt: Eyewitness Travel Guide Archived 2009-02-18 at the Wayback Machine . London: Dorling Kindersley, 2007. ISBN   978-0-7566-2875-8.
  8. ↑ Lehner 1991.
  9. ↑ Wilson, Peter Lamborn (1993). Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam . City Lights Books. p.  105. ISBN   978-0-87286-275-3.
  10. ↑ Garrett G. Fagan (editor), Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public, page 251 (Routledge, 2006). ISBN   0-415-30593-4
  11. ↑ West, John Anthony (1979). Serpent in the Sky. p. 213. Egyptologists postulate an indeterminate (and indeterminable) period of 'development' prior to the First Dynasty. This assumption is supported by no evidence; indeed the evidence, such as it is, appears to contradict the assumption.
  12. 1 2 3 Schoch, Robert M. (1992). "Redating the Great Sphinx of Giza" in Circular Times, ed. Collette M. Dowell. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  13. ↑ Schoch, Robert. "Rising From the Ashes of SIDA".
  14. ↑ Robert Schoch: Ancient Egypt, The Sphinx & The Great Flood – 2018 – 7:30
  15. 1 2 Schoch, Robert (2017). Origins of the Sphinx: Celestial Guardian of Pre-Pharaonic Civilization.
  16. 1 2 Joe Rogan Interview – Robert Schoch Explains Sphinx Water Erosion Hypothesis – 2018
  17. ↑ Lehner, Mark (2017). "Who Built the Sphinx?" (PDF). Aeragram. 18–1: 2–7.
  18. ↑ "Sequencing tells us which happened first". 13 October 2009.
  19. ↑ Ricke, Herbert (1970). "Der Harmachistempel des Chefren in Giseh". Beiträge zur Ägyptischen Bauforschung und Altertumskunde. 10.
  20. ↑ Lehner, Mark (1991). Archaeology of an Image: The Great Sphinx of Giza.
  21. ↑ "Khafre's Monuments as a Unit". 13 October 2009.
  22. ↑ Lacovara, Peter (2004). The Pyramids, the Sphinx: Tombs and Temples of Giza. Bunker Hill Publishing. p. 64. ISBN   978-1-59373-022-2.
  23. ↑ "Surface luminescence dating of some Egyptian monuments". Journal of Cultural Heritage. 16. 2014.
  24. ↑ Hölscher, Uvo (1912). Das Grabdenkmal des Königs Chephren.
  25. ↑ Borchardt, Ludwig (1911). Statuen und Statuetten von Königen und Privatleuten (PDF). pp. 9–19.
  26. 1 2 3 4 "Geological Evidence Pertaining to the Age of the Great Sphinx". Robertschoch.com. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017.
  27. ↑ Staff writer (1997). "How Old Are the Pyramids? Part 2". Nova Online. PBS . Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  28. ↑ Kenneth L. Feder, Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum, page 130 (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2010). ISBN   978-0-313-37918-5
  29. 1 2 Schoch, Robert M. (1995), "Response in Archaeology Magazine to Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner" in Dowell, Colette M. (ed.). Circular Times.
  30. ↑ "The Great Sphinx of Egypt: Nature's Shabby-Chic Trick?". GEO ExPro. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  31. 1 2 Hawass, Zahi (1999). The Secrets of the Sphinx: Restoration past and present. Columbia University Press. p. 14. ISBN   978-977-424-492-6.
  32. 1 2 Schoch, Robert M. (1999–2000), "Geological Evidence pertaining to the Age of the Great Sphinx" Archived 14 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine , in Spedicato, Emilio; Notarpietro, Adalberto (ed., 2002). New Scenarios on the Evolution of the Solar System and Consequences on History of Earth and Man, Proceedings of the Conference. Milan and Bergamo, 7–9 June 1999. Università degli Studi di Bergamo, Quaderni del Dipartmento di Matematica, Statistica, Informatica ed Applicazion, Serie Miscellanea. 3 (2002), 171–203.
  33. ↑ Palaeoclimate and environment Archived 7 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine , Fezzan Project, Climate Research Unit, Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of East Anglia. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  34. ↑ Michael Brass. "The Antiquity of Man Robert Schoch". Antiquityofman.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  35. ↑ Hawass, Zahi (1998). The Secrets of the Sphinx.
  36. ↑ Kuper, Rudolph; Kröpelin, Stefan (11 August 2006). "Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa's Evolution" (PDF). Science. 313 (5788): 803–807. Bibcode:2006Sci...313..803K. doi:10.1126/science.1130989. PMID   16857900. S2CID   20003260.
  37. ↑ Haddingham, Evan "Uncovering Secrets of the Sphinx" Smithsonian magazine, February 2010
  38. ↑ Gauri, K. Lal; Sinai, John J.; Bandyopadhyay, Jayanta K. (1995–04). "Geologic Weathering and Its Implications on the Age of the Sphinx", Geoarchaeology: an International Journal , 10:2 (April 1995), 119–133. ISSN 0883-6353.
  39. ↑ "Newsletter 7.2 Summer 1992". getty.edu. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  40. ↑ "Getty Institute Probes Riddle of the Deteriorating Sphinx" by Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times , 16 May 1990
  41. ↑ "Redating the Great Sphinx". Robertschoch.com.
  42. ↑ The Mystery of the Sphinx
  43. ↑ Reader, Colin (17 March 2000). "Further considerations on the Age of the Sphinx". Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  44. ↑ White, Chris (29 November 2012). "The Age of the Sphinx? Colin Reader vs. Robert Schoch – Water Erosion?". Ancientaliensdebunked.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013.
  45. ↑ C. D. Reader, A Geomorphological Study of the Giza Necropolis, with Implications for the Development of the Site, Volume 43, Issue 1, pages 149–165, February 2001, Wiley.com, accessed 7/1/2016.
  46. ↑ "Mark Lehner IAmA". 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.