According to a new study, wind erosion could have made a certain rock feature in ancient Egypt that appeared sphinx-like. Ancient Egyptians could have then refined it further to create the exemplary monument.
Sphinx From Ancient Egypt May Not Have Been Made From Scratch
The iconic Sphinx in Giza, situated in front of the Khafre pyramid, may not have been completely made from scratch but from a natural rock feature that already had a sphinx-like appearance.
According to the study conducted by a research team from New York University, yardang, which is a rock ridge blown by the wind that sticks out of the ground, is capable of naturally developing into a formation that is similar to a sphinx.
However, even if the Sphinx was created from a uniquely shaped rock hunk, ancient Egyptians still had to intricately shape the unique features of the Sphinx, which remains until this point of time.
Sphinx Shape
To look further into the shape of the Sphinx, the researchers got a soft clay mound containing harder material within it. They then placed it inside a water tunnel with a fast-flowing stream designed for simulating wind erosion worth thousands of years.
During the start of the experiment, the researchers formed the clay into a half ellipsoid mold. As water eroded portions of the clay, a sphinx-like shape was formed. The researchers also observed that the more resistant or harder material turned into a lion's head, with some frontal characteristics that looked like there were paws and a neck appearing.
Leif Ristroph, the study's senior author and an associate mathematics professor at NYU, explains that they showed that the natural erosion process can truly form a shape that appears like a lion with a head that is raised. Ristroph also notes that though it is possible that a similar natural fister could have already existed at Giza, this is something that remains unconfirmed.
Nevertheless, even if a natural feature like this truly existed, ancient Egyptians still had to do considerable work in order for the iconic Sphinx to be crafted. It is clear that the monument's facial characteristics and details were human-made.
Other scientists and Egyptologists who did not participate in the study find these notions interesting but also note that this does not imply that a natural sphinx-like shape feature was actually present in Giza.
Kathryn Bard, archaeology and classical studies professor emeritus from Boston University, who has done commendable work in Egypt, explains that the study reveals a real possibility of how a formation of natural limestone could lead to a sphinx-like shape. However, Bard warned that though she was able to observe yardangs in the Western Desert of Egypt, she has never seen a yardang that is similar to the one produced by the researchers in the study.
Bard notes that even if yardang with the shape of a sphinx existed in Giza, ancient Egyptians had to add limestone blocks to finish the lion legs, paws, and front.
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