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EGYPTAUDI
ABIASUDANLIBYAANSphinGET
MOREnatgeokids.com/mayEarly
Egyptians named
their land
Kemet, or “black
land,” for its
rich river mud.kEgypt’s Nile River is
the world’s longest
river, flowing over
4,400 miles through
eastern Africa.In Egypt, camels
are called “ships
of the desert.”
Like ships, they
carry goods and
people.HISTORIANS
THINK THE
SPHINX MIGHT’VE
LOOKED LIKE
THIS, BEFORE
WIND AND WATER
WORE AWAY ITS
COLORS.THE STATUE
WASN’T FULLY
UNCOVERED
UNTIL 1936,
ABOUT 70 YEARS
AFTER THIS PIC
WAS TAKEN.lower structure. “To me, that’s strong
evidence that the Sphinx couldn’t have
been Khufu’s,” Lehner says.
WHAT LIES BENEATH
Scientists have been solving the Sphinx’s
mysteries for a long time. The biggest
question about the structure used to be
what was buried underneath it. One legend
said the library of the lost city of Atlantis
was below the statue. Archaeologists went
looking for it in 1926 and did discover a
secret tunnel under the Sphinx—but it led
nowhere. Experts think treasure hunters
dug it long ago, searching for hidden riches.
But in 1999, Lehner and fellow Egyptologist
Zahi Hawass found a different kind of lost
city under the Sphinx: an ancient settlement
larger than 10 football fields. Lehner believes
it was home to workers who lived there
some 4,500 years ago. These workers likely
hauled different types of stone blocks to
build the pyramids and chisel the Sphinx
out of limestone.DISAPPEARING ACT
Today the ancient Egyptians’s work is
crumbling. Centuries of wind and waterhave ground away at the Sphinx’s limestone,
and shifting sands have threatened to
cover much of it. Archaeologists work
tirelessly to repair the structure to keep
it from completely disappearing, leaving
them little time to search for more hidden
chambers. “Think of the Sphinx as the
oldest sick person on Earth,” Hawass says.
“It needs a doctor on call at all times.”
By preserving the Sphinx, experts are
also protecting clues that might still be
hidden in the statue’s stone. Someday,
these could be the keys that unlock even
more of the Sphinx’s secrets.THE SPHINX SITS
NEAR SIX PYRAMIDS,
INCLUDING THE GREAT
PYRAMID OF GIZA.WONDERS!
ANCIENT
WONDERS!
EATIC
EANINDIANOCEANEUROPE
ASIAANATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC KIDS (^27)