# https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxVqVGVVB_I
by @AncientArchitects

@JorgeStolfi
1 month ago
The Sphinx was obviously a natural outcrop on the Giza plateau, carved by wind and/or rain and/or very ancient Nile floods into the rough shape of a crouched lion.  Originally it must have been half-buried in the chalk bedrock, with only the back, neck, and head standing out.  Still, its appearance must have made it an object of cult since remote Prehistory, long before the Pharaohs and the pyramids.  That religious significance must be the reason why the outcrop was preserved when the rest of the plateau was cleared and flattened for construction of the Pharaohs' necropolis.  The excavation of the area around the outcrop, that "revealed" its paws and tail, must have happened in Dynastic period; and that must also be when the face was sculpted-- possibly more than once.