Scientists have discovered that the Great Sphinx of Giza may have been sculpted by wind

Scientists claim to have solved the mystery surrounding the “true origin” of the story of the construction of the Great Sphinx in Giza This is over 45,000 years old in Egypt by artists of that time.

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Historians agree that the face of the Sphinx was carved by construction workers, but experts expect that desert winds shaped the monster.

France Press agency

A new study from New York University (NYU) tested this theory that has been popularized since the 1980s by creating miniature sculptures using fluid dynamics.

Indeed, the study’s scientists found that it was possible that the natural shape of the rock, created by desert winds, was what inspired the Egyptians to create the Sphinx.

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“Our results provide a possible origin story for how formations like the Sphinx emerged from erosion,” explained lead author Professor Lev Ristrov.

He continued: “Our laboratory experiments have shown that the strikingly sphinx-like shapes can actually come from materials eroded by rapid flows.”

The scientific team used a theory proposed by geologist Farouk El-Baz in 1981, according to which the Sphinx initially had a flat-topped shape, and was gradually eroded by the wind.

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According to him, the builders of the pyramids knew these natural processes. “Today, the pyramids of Giza exist in perfect harmony with their surroundings,” El-Baz said in 2011.

“If the ancient inhabitants had built their monuments in the shape of a cube, rectangle or even a stadium, they would have been erased long ago by the ravages of wind erosion.”

According to Farouk El-Baz, there is also the possibility of the existence of the yardang, an unusual rock formation found in deserts that results from dust and sand carried by the wind.

Malagasy – Fotolia

It is possible that the yards, naturally sculpted by the wind, rose on the Giza Plateau.

“Perhaps the engineers chose to reshape his head in the image of their king,” Al-Baz says. “They also gave him a body similar to that of a lion, inspired by shapes found in the desert.”

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In the study, the team of scientists replicated yardang using mounds of soft clay mixed with harder, less erodible materials.

Together they captured what the landscape of eastern Egypt once looked like.

They then bathed the land formations with a rapid stream of water to mimic the wind, which sculpted and reshaped them, eventually achieving a sphinx-like appearance.

Tanart – Fotolia

Indeed, the most solid or resistant part became the “head” of the lion, and many other characteristics appeared, such as the open “neck”, the “legs” in front, or the arched “back”.

“Our results provide a simple theory of the origin of formations such as the Sphinx that could result from erosion, and are useful to geologists,” Professor Ristroff insisted.

Some Egyptologists believe that the Great Sphinx represents the image of King Khafre. Others believe that Gedefra, Khafre’s older brother, was the one who built the Sphinx in honor of his father, Khufu.

This would place the construction of the Great Sphinx of Giza between 2550 and 2450 BC.