Sphinx

Thanks to the work of Egyptologist John Anthony West and DR Robert Schoch, Professor of Geology at Boston University, we now know that there are serious scientific objection to the presently accepted dating of the Great Sphinx of Egypt.

There have been an evidence – extensively outlined elsewhere – which cast fatal doubt on the orthodox Egyptological theory attributing the monument to the Forth Dynasty Pharaoh Knafre (ruled 2520 – 2494 BC). It is sufficient to state, as at least one senior member of the profession has been honest enough to admit, that “there is not a single ancient inscription which connects the Sphinx to Knafre “. The monuments, in other words, is anonymous stone. It is carved in one piece out of the bedrock of the Giza plateau, although later patched up with repair blocks ( in both ancient and modern times ) is still recognizable in essence as a gigantic monolith . As such it is not susceptible to carbon – dating, which can measure the age of organic materials only.

Indeed just as there is not a single ancient inscription concerning the Sphinx so also there is not a single test presently in existence which can tell us accurately when the monument was carved. Theoretically that could have happened at any time after the limestone of the Giza plateau was originally laid down by former oceans tens of millions of years ago… Professor Robert Schoch´s work helps to narrow the search by establishing a minimum age for the SPHINX .

But Schoch´s finding s are fiercely controversial because they set that minimum age very high, at 7000 years or older – i.e. deep in predynastic times, at least 2500 years earlier that the date accepted by Egyptologists. The Boston geology professor is, however, unrepentant: I’ve been told over and over again that the people of Egypt, as far as we know, did not have either the technology or the social organization to cut out the core body of the Sphinx in the pre – dynastic times…

However, I don’t see it as being my problem as a geologist. I’m not seeking to shift the burden, but it’s really up to Egyptologists and archaeologists to figure out who carved it. If my findings are in conflict with their theory about the rise of civilization then maybe its time for them to re – evaluate that theory. I’m not saying that the Sphinx was build by Atlanteans , or people from Mars , or extra – terrestrials . I’m just following the science where it leads me, and it leads me to conclude that the Sphinx was build much earlier than previously thought.

Schoch, a world expert on the weathering of limestone, bases this conclusion on a careful study of the erosion of the Sphinx. He believes (and hundred of other geologists have endorsed his view) that the great monument could not possibly have been carved as late as 2500 BC . This is so because it bears the unmistakable marks of “precipitation – induced weathering”, deep vertical fissures and undulating, horizontal coves that could only been caused by thousands of years of heavy rain.

Rain that must have fallen on the Sphinx after it was carved. The problem is that in 2500 BC Egypt was as bone dry as it is today, getting less that an inch of rain a year. Palaeoclimatologist , however , are able to tell us , very accurately , when the weather was wetter . Their conclusion is that the last time sufficient rain fell in the eastern Sahara to have caused characteristic weathering of the Sphinx was between 7000 and 5000 BC .

It is because of the evidence, choosing the most recent and conservative date possible, that Professor Shoch arrives at his minimum age for the Sphinx of 7000 years. His colleague John Anthony West, on the other hand, thinks that the monument may be much older (a possibility by no means ruled out by the weathering studies) . My conjecture is that the whole riddle is linked in some way to the legendary civilizations spoken of in all the mythologies of the world.

You know, that there were great catastrophes, that a few people survived and went wandering around the earth and that a bit of knowledge was preserved here, a bit there… My hunch is that the Sphinx is linked to all that. If I were asked to place a bet I’d say that the end of the Last Ice Age and is probably older that 10.000 BC, perhaps even older that 15.000 BC . My conviction – actually it´s more that a conviction.

It that it’s vastly old … The granite stela between the paws of the Sphinx in not contemporary with the monument but was inscribed to commemorate a trestoration campaign undertaken by Pharaoh Thutmosis 4 ( ruled 1401 – 1391 BC ) . The stela states enigmatically that the Sphinx marks “The Splendid Place of the First Time “.

~ by vittidk on March 28, 2009.