Has anyone explored the Sphinx?

Working closely with a young Egyptian archaeologist named Zahi Hawass, Lehner also explored and mapped a passage in the Sphinx's rump, concluding that treasure hunters likely had dug it after the statue was built.



Yes, the Great Sphinx of Giza has been the subject of intense exploration and scientific study for centuries, though much of its "inner" secrets remain a blend of archaeology and myth. Historically, researchers like Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass have mapped known passages, such as one in the Sphinx’s "rump" likely dug by ancient treasure hunters. In 2026, advanced non-invasive technologies like muon tomography and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) are frequently used to scan the bedrock beneath the monument. While sensationalist headlines often claim "hidden libraries" or "hall of records" have been found, legitimate archaeologists have only confirmed natural fissures and man-made shafts used for restoration or ancient drainage. Exploration is strictly controlled by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to prevent structural damage to the fragile limestone. While we have physically entered every known cavity, the quest for undiscovered chambers continues to drive modern expeditions, using 21st-century sensors to peer through the stone without ever picking up a chisel or a drill.

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Giovanni Battista Caviglia, led 160 men in the first modern attempt to dig out the Sphinx. They could not hold back the sand, which poured into their excavation pits nearly as fast as they could dig it out. The Egyptian archaeologist Selim Hassan finally freed the statue from the sand in the late 1930s.

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Examination of the Sphinx's face shows that long rods or chisels were hammered into the nose area, one down from the bridge and another beneath the nostril, then used to pry the nose off towards the south, resulting in the one-metre wide nose still being lost to date.

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[Scholars put his reign at 1401–1391 B.C.] According to the stela, Thutmosis IV was strolling here one day, all alone. Around midday, he got very hot and decided to rest in the shadow of the Great Sphinx.

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In 1378 CE, Egyptian peasants made offerings to the Great Sphinx in the hope of controlling the flood cycle, which would result in a successful harvest. Outraged by this blatant show of devotion, Sa'im al-Dahr destroyed the nose and was later executed for vandalism.

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Egyptologists mostly take it as settled fact that the Sphinx was carved about the same time as the Pyramids with which it shares the Giza Plateau and that its gentle, enigmatic face (minus a nose, a beard and other bits that have fallen or been knocked off over the centuries) is actually the likeness of a Pharaoh of ...

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However, a growing body of evidence suggests that the Great Sphinx is older than the date commonly ascribed to its construction, and that the head and neck were merely remodeled from a prior sculpture to create the face of the Great Sphinx sometime during the Old Kingdom.

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sphinx, mythological creature with a lion's body and a human head, an important image in Egyptian and Greek art and legend. The word sphinx was derived by Greek grammarians from the verb sphingein (“to bind” or “to squeeze”), but the etymology is not related to the legend and is dubious.

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Stonehenge was constructed about 4,500 years ago at around the same time as the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Despite their differences, these distant sites had much in common.

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For years, Egyptologists and archaeologists have thought the Great Sphinx of Giza to be about 4,500 years old, dating to around 2500 B.C. However, some recent studies have suggested that the Sphinx was built as long ago as 7000 B.C.

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A mythical creature with a human head and a leonine body, the Sphinx is male in ancient Egyptian art, and female in Greek tradition, its gender shifting with the variations in ornamentation.

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