RE: How old is the Sphinx?
March 17, 2013 at 4:12 pm
(This post was last modified: March 17, 2013 at 4:14 pm by Anomalocaris.)
The sphinx is not a monolithic rock block. The head is made of much more resistant rocks than most of the body. So just because the head sticks out, it does not follow that the head would have been more effected by erosion than the body.
Also the smallness of the head does not automatically indicate reworking. It is not clear exactly how large the resistant block on top of the body had been before the scultpors got to it. The disproportionat size of the head could well have been an original feature of the sphinx imposed by the small size of the available rock appropriately position to be carved into the head.
Finally, recent climatological study suggest in fact the Holocene wet phase ended in Egypt as recently as 2000 BC, much later than previously thought. so the conventionally accepted date of sphinx construction would not preclude it from exhibiting water erosion indicative of very wet weather.
I think taken as a whole, the evidence for old-kingdom origin of the sphinx is much more cohesive than for a much earlier origin.
Also the smallness of the head does not automatically indicate reworking. It is not clear exactly how large the resistant block on top of the body had been before the scultpors got to it. The disproportionat size of the head could well have been an original feature of the sphinx imposed by the small size of the available rock appropriately position to be carved into the head.
Finally, recent climatological study suggest in fact the Holocene wet phase ended in Egypt as recently as 2000 BC, much later than previously thought. so the conventionally accepted date of sphinx construction would not preclude it from exhibiting water erosion indicative of very wet weather.
I think taken as a whole, the evidence for old-kingdom origin of the sphinx is much more cohesive than for a much earlier origin.
