Sphinx - Egypt

As a consequence of the Sphinx being made in what is probably a man-made ditch, dug as part of the quarrying work to get limestone blocks for the pyramids, the sphinx lies below what is the natural ground level. It doesn't obviously seem this way as the area is a natural slope.

When the Temple of the Sphinx became neglected and the pharaohs' power was spent, the desert started to come back again, burying the Sphinx up to its shoulders and restoring the ground level to its natural position.

Lithograph of the Giza pyramids and sphinx from 1838

Half-buried sphinx

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