When was the Great Sphinx carved?
Most likely: the Sphinx was carved under Khafre, about 2550 to 2520 BC, in the same quarrying operation that supplied the…Ahead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
Where it stands
Five answers have been proposed. The Sphinx was carved under Khafre, about 2550 to 2520 BC, in the same quarrying operation that supplied the… leads, with evidence 4 for, 2 against: supported by its tests. Four are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
The Sphinx is the largest statue of the Old Kingdom and has no inscription naming its maker. Its date decides whether it belongs to the Fourth Dynasty building programme at Giza or to an earlier, otherwise undocumented phase of work on the plateau, and every rival reading of the erosion and the head depends on it[1][2][3].
Answers 5
History
- Lehner puts forward: the Sphinx was carved under Khafre, about 2550 to 2520 BC, in the same quarrying operation that supplied the…
- Lehner: no Old Kingdom text names the Sphinx or its maker.Against: The Sphinx was carved under Khafre, about 2550 to 2520 BC, in the same quarrying operation that supplied the…
- Lehner: the fossil-bed match ties the Sphinx Temple's blocks to the ditch, and the temple's construction matches…Against: The Sphinx was carved in the Early Dynastic period, in the Second Dynasty or soon after, before Khufu began…
- Dobecki & Schoch: schoch and Dobecki report a low-velocity weathered layer beneath the ditch floor, 1.8 to 2.5 m on the front…For: The core body was carved in the early Holocene or before, between about 10,000 and 5000 BC, and later…
- Lehner: a drainage channel along the north side of Khafre's causeway opens into the upper corner of the ditch, which…For: The Sphinx was carved under Khafre, about 2550 to 2520 BC, in the same quarrying operation that supplied the…
- Lehner: the causeway drainage channel that opens into the ditch implies the ditch is later than the causeway.Against: The Sphinx was carved under Khufu, Khafre's predecessor, and Khafre's causeway was laid out around it.
- Stadelmann puts forward: the Sphinx was carved under Khufu, Khafre's predecessor, and Khafre's causeway was laid out around it.
- Reader puts forward: the Sphinx was carved in the Early Dynastic period, in the Second Dynasty or soon after, before Khufu began…
- Wilkinson: wilkinson's comment in the same issue of Archaeometry disputed the archaeological case for an early Giza…Against: The Sphinx was carved in the Early Dynastic period, in the Second Dynasty or soon after, before Khufu began…
- Reader: reader accepts runoff erosion in the ditch and argues that Khufu's quarries upslope would have cut off the…For: The Sphinx was carved in the Early Dynastic period, in the Second Dynasty or soon after, before Khufu began…
- Hadingham: fossil beds in the Sphinx Temple's core blocks match the strata of the Sphinx ditch, so the temple was built…For: The Sphinx was carved under Khafre, about 2550 to 2520 BC, in the same quarrying operation that supplied the…
- JPP: reader's 2026 book adds a Second Dynasty date, Ma'adi-period occupation of the plateau and a later Valley…For: The Sphinx was carved in the Early Dynastic period, in the Second Dynasty or soon after, before Khufu began…
- Asked on this site