Egyption scientists say they have unearthed the secrets behind how the Great Sphinx – one of the ancient world’s biggest wonders – was built.
The origins of the Sphinx have baffled researchers for decades, with many agreeing that the statue’s face was hand-carved more than 4,500 years ago by stone masons.
However, how its huge layered body was crafted has divided opinion.
Now, though, new research compiled by the New York University – approved for publication in the Physical Review Fluids – has cracked the mystery thanks to its analysis of how wind moves against rock formations.
Scientists took heaps of soft clay with harder, more durable material embedded inside it to replicate the northeastern Egypt terrain.
They washed the formations with fast-flowing streams of water to act as the wind it would have faced too.
By the end of the experiment, the clay resembled the same texture of the Sphinx.
In a statement, Leif Ristroph, the study’s senior author, said: “Our findings offer a possible ‘origin story’ for how Sphinx-like formations can come about from erosion.”
He added: “Our laboratory experiments showed that surprisingly Sphinx-like shapes can, in fact, come from materials being eroded by fast flows.”
The expert noted how the experiment left the lion’s “head”, an undercut “neck” and “paws” laid out in front on the ground and an arched “back”.
He continued: “There are, in fact, yardangs in existence today that look like seated or lying animals, lending support to our conclusions.”
The experiment was working on a theory that had been originally proposed back in 1981.
Composed by geologist Farouk El-Baz, the theory claimed the Great Sphinx was naturally created by wind eroding against the sand.
Ristroph concluded: “The work may also be useful to geologists as it reveals factors that affect rock formations—namely, that they are not homogeneous or uniform in composition.
“The unexpected shapes come from how the flows are diverted around the harder or less-erodible parts.”
