Dafunkdoc_Unlimited
Theological Noncognitivist Since Birth
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- The Wrong Side of the Tracks
Figured this 'theory' needed to be bushed since some people don't actually know the difference between 'science' and 'pseudoscience'. If you believe the Sphinx is over 10,000 years old because of the pattern and amount of water erosion that wasn't possible due to the amount of rainfall AFTER the Sahara's 'wet period', then you need to shut the fukk up......
Pyramidales :
Nowadays, the Sphinx appears to us in a particularly damaged shape. On the one hand, and accordingly to one of the retained hypotheses, its face could have received the sacrilegious shots from the Mameluks artillery. On the other hand, its immediate environment bears marks from erosion caused by rainfall and water runoff which, even if they are not frequent in Egypt, can be notably violent.
When comparing the weathered condition of the sculpture and its enclosure with other buildings on the Plateau, some people think that the Sphinx is older, perhaps much older, than the pyramids.
What do you think about such a reading of the site ?
Jean-Pierre Houdin :
A theory, proposed in the 50’s and recently back on the front stage, tries to prove that the Sphinx was already present on the Giza Plateau several thousand years before the construction of the large pyramids. This theory is supported, in its demonstration, by the analysis of the rain erosion which can be seen on the walls of the Sphinx enclosure.
Although the hydrological and geological reports are quite pertinent, in no case can the proposed conclusion stand on this single observation because two basic parameters are missing in this study: the original topography of the Giza Plateau and the upheavals resulting from the construction of the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre.
The addition of these two parameters leads to a totally opposite conclusion and strengthens the fact that the Sphinx was effectively carved at the time of the construction of the large pyramids, more precisely under Khufu’s reign, as I’m in the process of demonstrating.
After this initial introduction, I’ll allow myself, my Dear Marc, to expand a little more on this topic which requires a very detailed explanation because of the importance of my conclusion, a conclusion which fully supports everything I have been saying.
As we have already seen, The Sphinx is a monolithic sculpture directly carved from the bedrock, the head from a rocky outcrop and the body by quarrying down and around the body, creating around it a several meters deep enclosure edged by vertical walls. To summarize, the Sphinx literally springs up from its own quarry.
The erosion by wind and sand left horizontal marks of varying depth on the enclosure walls depending on the quality of the limestone stratums, while rainwater erosion, due to water runoff, cut vertical grooves on these same walls.
As one can notice on the photo above, the most noticeable rainwater erosion is found on the enclosure walls on West (in the background) and South (on left) , while the much lower wall on North (on right) is less eroded.
On both photos of the western wall below, the water runoff seems to be evenly spread along the wall, showing a regular flow of water from the overhanging quarries inserted between Khafre’s Royal Causeway and Khufu’s pyramid.
On the North side of the Sphinx enclosure (Above Sea Level 20), Khufu’s pyramid is built at a higher level (ASL60), creating de facto, with the Queens pyramids and the Royal mastabas, a barrier on this part of the Plateau. Between both, the ground slopes down toward the South as shown by the arrangement of the stratums of the western wall of the Sphinx enclosure.
Both of the photos below show the South-East corner of the enclosure and the Causeway which goes along it for a few meters. On the southern wall, one can observe the marks of the water runoff which dug deep vertical grooves into the wall.
One can also note that the enclosure was partially filled between the back of the Sphinx and the western wall.
The photo below shows the South wall as seen from the South-West corner of the enclosure, and the very close presence of the masonry (rebuilt) of the North wall of Khafre’s Royal Causeway. One can notice that in the first part, close to the South-West corner, the grooves made by the water runoff are very deep and the wall is getting closer to the Causeway in steps (the shadows highlight this phenomenon); to the contrary, in the second part, closer to the Valley Temple, the wall is much less eroded and there is no step. The water runoff didn’t erode the South wall the same way all along and the “free passage” between the wall and the Causeway is thinner in the first part.
A closer look at the water runoff erosion at the bottom of the pit.
On the aerial view below, one can find all the details discussed above, particularly the path of the water runoff at the bottom of the pit; this starts directly below the upper part of the South wall which is the most eroded (red ellipse). Something visible in this photo now becomes very important: the base of the masonry of the North wall of the Khafre’s Royal Causeway (yellow line). This built and roofed Causeway started from the North-West corner of the Valley Temple and ends at the Upper Temple on the East side of Khafre’s pyramid, the distance between both being around 500 meters.
At last, one can notice on the photo below that there is no visible trace of erosion due to water runoff at the bottom of the pit on the North side, on the right of the Sphinx; this is a strong confirmation of a relation between cause and effect in the South part (left).
Let’s go back to the topography of the Giza Plateau before the construction of the pyramids.
(The North is on top of the picture)
As can be seen on this topography diagram, the contour lines of the Giza Plateau delineate an inverted “oyster shell” seen from top and on the East-West axis; the lower point, on the East, is at level ASL20 and the higher point, on the West, is at level ASL105. This shell is edged on the East, North and West by cliffs and on the South by the dried bed of an ancient waddi, which carved its path from West to East, as the contour lines show.
On a central and oblique line oriented North-East / South-West, the Egyptians will successively build the three large pyramid while sticking perfectly to the ground: the first one on the North, Khufu’s pyramid, straddling on the contour line ASL65; the second one, in the center, Khafre’s pyramid, straddling on the contour lines ASL70 and ASL75; the last one, on the South, Menkaure’s pyramid, between contour lines ASL70 and ASL75. As for the Sphinx, it was carved on the East, between contour lines ASL20 and ASL30, its head being carved in a rocky outcrop standing there.
In the beginning, the rainwater runoff followed the natural slopes linked to the topography. Thus, all the rainwater falling on the ground in the area of the “shell” included between the future pyramids of Khufu and Khafre and the future Sphinx flowed towards the South-East of the waddi, speeding up because of the increasing slope before ending in the bed of the Nile.
The topography was modified first with the construction of Khufu’s pyramid, with two major events which altered the topography of the Plateau:
- the construction of a ramp linking the port of the building site up to the base of the main temporary external ramp built to deliver materials,
- the opening, on both sides of this ramp, of the main quarries which supplied almost all the limestone blocks used for the construction of the volume of the pyramid, behind the facing blocks made of Turah limestone .
This new morphology led to a modification of the path of the rainwater runoff coming from the North and West areas of the Plateau: the quarry on the North side of the ramp of the port collected a large part of this water, which was then veered towards the pit in which the Sphinx has been carved before ending in the port and the Nile. The West enclosure wall started to be regularly eroded all along its length, while the remaining water runoff flowed on the ramp of the port and in the southern quarries before joining the waddi and the Nile.
The red arrows indicate the new path of the rainwater runoff after the construction of Khufu’s pyramid. The yellow lines show the first rain runoff erosion on the walls of the quarries (erosion which can be seen nowadays on the western enclosure wall of the Sphinx and on the South side of the foundations of Khafre’s Causeway).
The erosion on the western enclosure wall of the Sphinx which is highlighted by the yellow line on the 3D model
The erosion on the South side of the foundation of Khafre’s Causeway which is highlighted by the yellow line on the 3D model
After Khufu’s pyramid completion, the water runoff on the Plateau had changed, but the consecutive erosion was still largely spread on the ground.
Once again, the rainwater runoff would be disrupted, this time by the construction of Khafre’s pyramid. The choice of building site for Khafre’s pyramid was linked to economic considerations. In actuality, the architects took full advantage of the topography of the Plateau and previous work done under Khufu’s reign to offer King Khafre a pyramid competing with that of his father, all of which was accomplished at a much lower cost. The project can be summarized as follows:
- a location of the pyramid at a level around ten meters higher than Khufu’s pyramid,
- a slightly more sloping area which allowed more of the bedrock to be left in place under the pyramid, reducing the need for filler material and thus requiring less quarried material compared to Khufu’s pyramid,
- more bedrock cut from around the site itself, the pyramid being built in an impressive quarry, thus reducing the transportation of a large part of the materials,
- a smaller square base (215m instead of 230m), a steeper slope (53.1° instead of 51.4°) for a slightly lower height (143.5m instead of 146.7m) and for a total volume of about 372.000m3 less (2.211.000m3 instead of 2.583.000m3),
- a much simpler internal plan, the funerary apartments being “dug” into the bedrock in parallel with the construction of the pyramid, with no need to build any constructional device like the Grand Gallery in Khufu’s pyramid,
- the re-use of the ramp of the port from Khufu’s era as the foundations of the Royal Causeway linking the Valley Temple and the Upper Temple,
- the clever “visual” integration of the Sphinx and its Temple in the new funerary complex, without misappropriation of the original function of these.
It is obvious that the architects succeeded their goal because Khafre’s pyramid stands majestically on the Giza Plateau, often stealing the spotlight from Khufu’s pyramid in the photos brought back by millions of tourists visiting; in fact, Khafre’s Pyramid often appears on the covers of magazines with the caption: The Great Pyramid.
On the other hand, the same architects seem to have apparently undervalued one parameter: the gutter effect on the rainwater runoff which would become a hard thing to control once the works were completed.
To be continued......
