remained so until it was partially cleared again in 1817 (fig.79) and still more in 1858 and 1885
(fig.80). But it was not fully exposed until 1926. So there really wasn’t a great deal of time for all
of this wind erosion to have occurred. But even with it being covered for so long, according to
estimates based the figures Dr. Hawass has provided for the rate of this erosion, if it were indeed
a fact, then the Sphinx should be all but gone by now, or wafer thin at the very least. There is also
the disturbing fact that the deep vertical fissures are quite clearly the results of water erosion
caused by prolonged exposure to precipitation. Naturally, any of these telltale fissures that appear
on the actual monument are being hurriedly covered by new ‘restoration’ work that is being
carried out (Fig.81). But even with this new work, there can be no doubt whatsoever that the
erosion seen on the monument was in fact, caused by water.
Fig.79Hancock and Bauval sum it up nicely in ‘The Keeper of Genesis’:
“The weathering patterns, which have been studied by geologists from Boston University, have
been identified as having been caused by prolonged exposure to heavy rains. In 2500 BC when
Egyptologists presume that the sphinx was built, Egypt was as bone dry as it is today. Between
15000 and 7000 BC, however, the science of palaeo-climatology indicates that Egypt several
times passed through periods of wet climate which could have caused weathering patterns such
as these.
“The trench surrounding the Great Sphinx which was created at the same time that the sphinx
was carved, very clearly indicates the rolling scalloped ‘coves’ and very deep vertical fissures
characteristic of precipitation-induced weathering in limestone (fig.82).
“The sciences of geology and palaeo-climatology alone, however, can only demonstrate that
the sphinx and its enclosure are much older than previously thought. Archeo-astronomical
analysis provides a far more accurate tool for dating the sphinx”
The work done by West and Schoch clearly demonstrates beyond any doubt that the massive
amount of erosion visible on the Sphinx was indeed caused by water.
The somewhat controversial issue of the Sphinx bearing signs of water erosion was actually
first raised by a French Egyptologist named Schwaller de Lubizc who’s theory was considered to
be much too contentious at the time and was also hurriedly dismissed.
The Academic community chooses to completely disregard this indisputable evidence of water
erosion because it poses an enormous problem for them. It’s universally agreed that Egypt has
been subject to severe flooding in the past but geological studies of the area show that the last
time there were any rains or floods in Egypt, of a magnitude to cause the type of erosion that can
be found on the sphinx, was between 7,000 and 15,000 years ago and that just doesn’t help their
cause at all because it actually proves their theory to be irrefutably erroneous.