Scientists Have an Idea How the 4500-Yr-Old Sphinx Might Have Taken Shape
The Great Sphinx of Giza is one of the most prominent structures in Egypt that attracts countless tourists throughout the year. However, the construction of the 4,500-year-old Sphinx continues to fascinate archaeologists with its mystery. A recent study has delved deeper into the architectural attributes of the ancient structure and theorized how it was shaped, as published in the journal, Physical Review Fluids.
The study theorized that the shape of the Sphinx could have formed out of a natural rock formation that was exposed to years and years of wind erosion. The rock formations are known as yardangs which form as a result of the desert blowing sand onto the rocky structures, causing the softer stones to erode while harder sediments continue to stick to them. Yardangs formed in various shapes and sizes where some used to be tall like towers and some were shaped like massive blocks.
"Our results provide a simple origin theory for how sphinx-like formations can come about from erosion," Leif Ristroph, senior author of the study and an experimental physicist and applied mathematician at New York University, revealed in a statement. "There are, in fact, yardangs in existence today that look like seated or lying animals lending support to our conclusions." After studying the shape of the Sphinx, many researchers have previously wondered if they were sculpted out of a yardang. The team of experts working with Ristroph provided evidence that the Sphinx could have formed out of a yardang.
Ristroph and his team tried to recreate how the Sphinx could have formed with the help of a shapeless mound of clay. Then they embedded harder materials inside it to replicate the terrain of the northeastern region of Egypt. They blasted it with fast streams of water that mimicked wind erosion. Using a 3D scanner, they monitored how the mound of clay changed its shape over time, roughly resembling the shape of the Sphinx. "The harder or more resistant material became the 'head' of the lion, and many other features—such as an undercut ‘neck,’ ‘paws’ laid out in front on the ground and arched ‘back’—developed," the researchers revealed in the publication.
"If similar shapes formed over many years in the desert, such natural rock formations "could have put in the minds of these ancient Egyptians that there are these great, mythical animals that are sitting out there," Ristroph explained to Eos. However, the history of its actual constructions by humans remains a mystery. "It’s not so black and white," Ristroph elaborated to CNN. "No one says this is an entirely human-carved thing and no one says it’s entirely nature-carved. The question is how much was naturally existing and then further modified."
"The study shows a very real possibility of how a natural limestone formation came to have a kind of amorphous sphinx-like shape," Kathryn Bard, an archaeologist at Boston University, told Live Science. To conclude the study, experts agreed that the carving Sphinx would have required fine craftsmanship and tons of hard work. "No doubt that the facial features and detail work were done by humans," Ristroph told Live Science.