Great Sphinx of Giza

[[File:Great Sphinx of Giza May 2015.JPG|thumb|right|165px|The Great Sphinx of Giza, 2015|Alien cat-man hybrid!]]{{pseudohistorynav}}
{{hatnote|This article deals with nuttery surrounding the Sphinx of Giza. See [[Giza pyramids]] for nuttery surrounding the pyramids.}}
The '''Great Sphinx of Giza''' is a giant 20-meter (66 ft) high and 73-meter (240 ft) long statue near the [[Giza pyramids]] in [[Egypt]]. If you ask most Egyptologists, the Sphinx was probably carved around 2500 BCE by the [[Ancient Egypt|ancient Egyptians]]. We know this due to the layout of the surrounding structures, the architectural style, and an examination of the stone's origin.<ref name=sequence>[http://www.aeraweb.org/sphinx-project/why-sequence-is-important/ Why Sequence is Important]</ref> It's usually attributed to the Pharaoh Khafre (2520-2494 BCE), but it's also possible that it was built by Khafre's father Pharaoh Khufu<ref>''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', December 14th, 2002, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/1478998/I-have-solved-riddle-of-the-Sphinx-says-Frenchman.html I have solved riddle of the Sphinx, says Frenchman]</ref> (2589–2566 BCE) or brother Pharaoh Djedefre<ref>[http://documentarystorm.com/riddle-of-the-sphinx/ Riddle of the Sphinx]</ref> (2528–2520 BCE). It may be even older than that, though, as some scholars think that it was originally just a statue of a lion that was later carved down into its current shape, based on the fact that its current head looks a bit disproportionately small.

==Water erosion hypothesis==
The so-called "Water erosion hypothesis" states that the Sphinx displays erosion that can be caused only by rain. Egypt today is not exactly known for its heavy rains, but that was different in prehistoric times. Therefore the Sphinx [[Pseudohistory|must be]] [[Alternate historical chronology|much older]] than the commonly accepted 2500 BCE (usually 10,000 to 5000 BCE).<ref>Robert Schoch, 1992 [http://www.robertschoch.net/Redating%20the%20Great%20Sphinx%20of%20Giza.htm Redating the Great Sphinx of Giza]</ref><ref>Robert Schoch, 2002, [http://www.robertschoch.com/geodatasphinx.html Geological Evidence Petaining to the Age of the Great Sphinx]</ref>

Many people have pointed out that the weathering is not necessarily due to rain, but could also be consistent with (a combination of) several other erosion processes such as salt crystallization,<ref>Jeffrey Levin, [http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters/7_2/sphinx.html International Symposium on the Great Sphinx], ''The GCI Newsletter'', 7.2, Summer 1992</ref> groundwater percolation, and wind erosion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lacovara|first=Peter|title=The Pyramids, the Sphinx: Tombs and Temples of Giza|year=2004|publisher=Bunker Hill Publishing|isbn=978-1-59373-022-2|url=[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N9gSkrNuezEC&pg=PA64&dq=sphinx+weathering&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LWcAT8jYCIyn8gPmpdSgAQ&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=schoch&f=false link]|page=64}}</ref> Even if the weathering could not be explained by any other means, the complete lack of ''any''  artifacts or inscriptions older than 5000 BCE ''anywhere'' in Egypt that are the hallmark of an advanced society<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/howold.html How Old Are The Pyramids?]</ref><ref group=note>Keep in mind that people have inhabited Egypt for tens of thousands of years, and we have artifacts from Egypt dating ''far'' before 5000 BCE, just not any that point to an advanced, post-Neolithic civilization.</ref> would make it just [[Occam's Razor|as likely]] that the weathering would be due to some unknown process or environmental factor, and not due to an unknown civilization.

People who promote this include {{wpl|Robert Schoch}} (who holds a PhD in Geology and Geophysics) and [[Graham Hancock]] (in ''Fingerprints of the Gods''). [[Jason Colavito]] has compiled a fairly straightforward summary of their and other claims as well as an accompanying debunking.<ref>Jason Colavito, 2001: [http://www.jasoncolavito.com/who-built-the-sphinx.html Who Built the Great Sphinx?]</ref><ref group=note>See also Colavito's review/debunking of Schoch's 2017 book (co-written with [[Giza pyramids#Orion correlation "theory"|Robert Bauval]]), [http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/review-of-the-origin-of-the-sphinx-by-robert-schoch-and-robert-bauval ''The Origin of the Sphinx'' (part 1)].</ref>

==ZOMG! ALIENS BUILT THE PYRAMIDS!!!1!!==
[[Image:FacesMarsSphinx.png|thumb|right|Yep, it's the same face all right.]]
One strand of [[not even wrong|complete nonsense]] involves claims that the face of the Sphinx is "the same as" the [[Face on Mars]], and that the Martian Cydonia region contains a complex of associated [[pyramid]]s and causeways similar to that at Giza.<ref>[http://mars-earth.com/cydonia_eygpt/ THE MARS-EARTH CONNECTION]</ref> We don't see the resemblance at all. We honestly don't know what else to tell you.

==Nose and beard==
[[Image:Sphinx obelix.jpg|thumb|left|How it probably happened.{{nofact}}]]The Sphinx has no nose.<ref group=note>"No nose? How does it smell?" "Terrible!" (''Don't'' say "It sphinx"!)</ref> This is usually attributed to vandalism in the 14th century by [[Islam|Muslim]] fanatic Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, who attacked the statue after hearing of peasants making tribute to it and was hanged for his crimes. Whether this is actually true is not entirely clear, since the same report also mentions the ears being damaged, yet they're still present.<ref name=sequence/> Another popular story is that [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]]'s soldiers accidentally destroyed it, which is easily disproven by drawings made before Napoleon's birth.<ref>[http://www.napoleon-series.org/faq/c_sphinx.html Did Napoleon's troops shoot the nose off the Sphinx?] by Tom Holmberg</ref> Furthermore, Napoleon did everything in his power to treat the locals with the utmost respect during his Egyptian expedition and his army included a significant number of the leading scholars in their field, so such an act of blatant vandalism would have been highly uncharacteristic and Napoleon would have likely blasted the responsible party themselves with cannonballs at point-blank range if something like that had happened. In any case, the severing of the Sphinx's nose has long been a stock event in works involving wacky hijinks by ancient Egyptians or clumsy time travelers.

The Sphinx also had a beard, most likely added in the 18th Dynasty (about 1550-1295 BCE) during a New Kingdom restoration of the statue, which fell off in antiquity.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150905171042/https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/f/fragment_of_the_beard_of_the_g.aspx Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx]</ref> A new temple dedicated to it was also added at that time, and its remains can still be seen to the northeast of the Sphinx.<ref>Wilkinson, R W (2000), The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson, London</ref> The remains of the beard were discovered in excavations conducted in 1817 by Giovanni Battista Caviglia, working for Henry Salt. A part of it now resides in the British Museum, while other fragments, found in subsequent excavations in 1925-1926, are now in the Cairo Museum.

==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:Archaeology]]
[[Category:Ancient Egypt]]
[[Category:Pseudoarchaeology]]

Categories: Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, Pseudoarchaeology