# The Sphinx was carved under Khufu, Khafre's predecessor, and Khafre's causeway was laid out around it.

> Still possible: The Sphinx was carved under Khufu, Khafre's predecessor, and Khafre's causeway was laid out around it.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/great-sphinx/answers/ANS0CTWSFNM2P13/the-sphinx-was-carved-under-khufu-khafres-predecessor-and  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Great Sphinx of Giza](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/great-sphinx)[When was the Great Sphinx carved?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/great-sphinx/questions/QST0CTWSCG26180/when-was-the-great-sphinx-carved)Answer

Answer · Great Sphinx of Giza

# The Sphinx was carved under Khufu, Khafre's predecessor, and Khafre's causeway was laid out around it.

The Sphinx was carved under Khufu, Khafre's predecessor, and Khafre's causeway was laid out around it.

**Still possible** Answers **1** questionPublished0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** Its tests haven't settled it: one piece of evidence for, one against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- The headdress, uraeus and face proportions match Khufu-period sculpture more closely than Khafre's.
- The causeway's line bends or is cut to avoid an existing Sphinx enclosure.

## What would rule it out

- A stratigraphic relationship showing the ditch was quarried after Khafre's causeway was built, or stylistic analysis placing the head securely in Khafre's reign.

## Evidence 1 for · 1 against

[Stadelmann argued from the style of the headdress and beard that the Sphinx is Khufu's, and that the causeway…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/great-sphinx/evidence/EVD0CTWSFXE6DE3/stadelmann-argued-from-the-style-of-the-headdress-and-beard)

Speculative

FOR

[The causeway drainage channel that opens into the ditch implies the ditch is later than the causeway.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/great-sphinx/evidence/EVD0CTWSG582C3Z/the-causeway-drainage-channel-that-opens-into-the-ditch)

Suggestive

AGAINST

## The questions it answers

[When was the Great Sphinx carved?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/great-sphinx/questions/QST0CTWSCG26180/when-was-the-great-sphinx-carved)

Most likelyThe Sphinx was carved under Khafre, about 2550 to 2520 BC, in the same quarrying operation that supplied the…

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). The Sphinx was carved under Khufu, Khafre's predecessor, and Khafre's causeway was laid out around it. [Answer ANS0CTWSFNM2P13]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0CTWSFNM2P13
```

Key

**ANS** 0CTWSFNM2P13

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Origin

Published

Version

1

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ANS0CTWSFNM2P13)
