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Great Sphinx of Giza

Great Sphinx of Giza
Image: Maison Bonfils (Beirut, Lebanon), photographers : Félix (1831-1885), his wife, Lydie (1837-1918) and his son, Adrien (1861-1929). Most possible done by Félix, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain. Resized; not otherwise altered. All credits.
LocationGiza Plateau, west bank of the Nile, Greater Cairo, Egypt
Conventional dateFourth Dynasty, reign of Khafre, about 2500 BCE (carved from bedrock within his pyramid complex).
Alternative date proposals
  • Robert Schoch & John Anthony West: Core body at least 5000 BCE, possibly about 10,000 BCE, based on rainfall weathering [1]
  • Colin Reader: Late Early Dynastic, a few centuries before Khafre, based on run-off patterns [5][6]
What is measured
  • Uneven weathering and vertical fissures on the enclosure walls; a low-velocity layer 1.2–2.5 m deep under the floor. [2][3]
  • The Nile's Khufu branch was still high in the Fourth Dynasty; the region dried gradually after the African Humid Period. [8]

The Sphinx is about 73 m long and was carved from the plateau's layered limestone, so the stone itself cannot be dated by the usual methods. The age question rests on geology (weathering), context (its place in Khafre's complex) and the absence or presence of older material culture. The historic photograph on this page shows it still partly buried in sand, which is relevant to the wet-sand weathering argument.

Claims about this site

ClaimStatusVerdict
The Great Sphinx is thousands of years older than Egyptologists think (water-erosion hypothesis)Leading EdgeOpen question
The Sphinx faced Leo rising at the spring equinox around 10,500 BCELeading EdgeMeasured sky: Leo rose before the equinox Sun at Giza from about 11,400 to 8,800 BCE, so 10,500 BCE fits; whether the Sphinx was built for this, and when, is an open question
Radiocarbon dates from Giza mortar fall in the Old Kingdom era, with an unresolved offsetMainstreamMeasured: mortar charcoal dates to c. 2900–2600 BCE; the cause of a 100–400-year offset is still debated
The Fourth Dynasty completed an older Giza site (the 'legacy' or restoration hypothesis)Leading EdgeOpen question: the built pyramids date to the Old Kingdom; no dating method has yet reached the bedrock and underground parts
An advanced civilisation existed during the last Ice Age and was lost in a catastropheLeading EdgeOpen question

Visiting: Giza pyramids and Sphinx

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Sources

  1. Schoch, R. M. The Great Sphinx (author's own summary of his water-erosion dating, with links to his 1992 KMT paper). https://www.robertschoch.com/sphinx.html proponent
  2. Dobecki, T. L. & Schoch, R. M. (1992). Seismic investigations in the vicinity of the Great Sphinx of Giza, Egypt. Geoarchaeology 7(6). doi:10.1002/gea.3340070603 data
  3. Harrell, J. A. (1994). The Sphinx controversy: another look at the geological evidence. KMT 5(2) (online reprint). http://www.hallofmaat.com/sphinx/the-sphinx-controversy-another-look-… critique
  4. Lal Gauri, K., Sinai, J. J. & Bandyopadhyay, J. K. (1995). Geologic weathering and its implications on the age of the Sphinx. Geoarchaeology 10(2). doi:10.1002/gea.3340100203 critique
  5. Reader, C. D. (2001). A geomorphological study of the Giza necropolis, with implications for the development of the site. Archaeometry 43(1). doi:10.1111/1475-4754.00009 proponent
  6. Reader, C. D. (2026). Rewriting the History of the Great Sphinx. Archaeopress (January 2026). doi:10.2307/jj.38271388 proponent
  7. Lacovara, P. (2026). Review of Rewriting the History of the Great Sphinx. American Journal of Archaeology (October 2026). doi:10.1086/744239 critique
  8. Sheisha, H. et al. (2022). Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE. PNAS 119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2202530119 data

Dates are summarised in our own words from the sources listed. Conventional and alternative dates are both reported; "measured" lists only dated or documented findings. Methodology.