Yes Alice, it is quite possible that Egypt’s Great Sphinx is the result of pareidolia. One of the most impressive examples of art made from rock in the world might, just might, have originated as a case of pareidolia.
“Located at the Giza Plateau next to the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx is a chimeric monolith monument of colossal dimensions. In strictly mythological terms a sphinx represents an androsphinx, that is a monster consisting of the body of a lion and a human head. While its name is accepted to stem from the Greek verb σφίγγω (“I strangle”), it cannot be ruled out that it comes from the Egyptian shespankh, meaning “living image”. Despite having fewer malevolent and more masculine attributes than its Greco-Oedipean counterpart, it still conveyed an idea of untamed vigour, thereby winning the denomination of “The Terrifying One” in modern Egyptian Arabic.” (Galassi 2023)
As residents of the western United States we have ample evidence around us of the power of wind and weather to sculpt stone. Most of the great National Parks of the Southwest have marvelous examples of this. Where sedimentary rock is layered in a formation with variations in the hardness of the layers, the erosion of the rock will result in the formations known as ‘hoodoos’ and ‘yardangs.’ “A yardang is a streamlined protuberance carved from bedrock or any consolidated or semi-consolidated material by the dual action of wind abrasion by dust and sand and deflation. Yardangs become elongated features typically three or more times longer than wide, and when viewed from above, resemble the hull of a boat.” (Wikipedia) These forces are at work, of course, all over the world, not just in the western United States.
As we know, at least those of us who don’t attribute it to the work of aliens from outer space, the Great Sphinx was created by the carving of an original rock formation with extra features then added on in masonry. “Historians and archaeologists have, over centuries, explored the mysteries behind the Great Sphinx of Giza: What did it originally look like? What was it designed to represent? What was its original name? But less attention has been paid to a foundational and controversial question: what was the terrain the ancient Egyptians came across when they began to build this instantly recognizable structure – and did these natural surroundings have a hand in its formation?” (Devitt 2023) In other words which came first, the concept or the yardang?
“To address these questions, which have been raised on occasion by others, a team of New York University scientists replicated conditions that existed 4,500 years ago – when the Sphinx was built – to see how wind moved against rock formations in possibly first shaping one of the most recognizable statues in the world.” (Devitt 2023)
The team from New York University set up an experiment to try to replicate the source of the original rock formation. “The work centered on replicating yardangs – and exploring how the Great Sphinx could have originated as a yardang that was subsequently detailed by humans into the form of the widely recognized statue.” (Devitt 2023)
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“The team, led by New York University’s Leif Ristroph, originally studied how water eroded clay. After building several bentonite clay mounds with non-erodible plastic (standing in for ‘hard inclusions’) at the upstream end of each one, water flowed over the mounts parallel to its long axis. Over time, the water ate away the clay, but left the non-erodible plastic intact, and Ristroph was struck by the appearance of a very familiar shape.” (Orff 2023) The action of a moving medium on a static solid. The water standing in for wind and weather erosion, and the clay construct representing a rock outcropping being eroded.
Now, none of this tells us whether the ancient Egyptians intentionally went out looking for a rock outcropping to adapt into an image that was already in their minds – the Great Sphinx, or whether someone saw the shape of the yardang and decided that it looked a lot like a human head on a lion’s body, but the latter possibility would mean that the Great Sphinx of Giza really is the result of pareidolia.
NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
Boury, Samuel et al., 2022, Poster: Sculpting the Sphinx, 75th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics - Gallery of Fluid Motion. DOI: 10.1103/AOS.DFD.2022.GFM.P0030. Accessed online 17 January 2024.
Devitt, James, 2023, Did nature have a hand in the formation of the Great Sphinx?, 31 October 2023, https://phys.org/news/2023-10-nature-formation-great-sphinx.html. Accessed online 31 October 2023.
Galassi, Francesco M., 2014, On face and identity of the Great Sphinx of Giza: A medico-anthropological review, July 2014, SHEMU, The Egyptian Society of South Africa, Vol. 18, No. 3, www.egyptiansociety.co.za. Accessed online 31 December 2023.
McLaughlin, Katherine, 2023, Was Egypt’s Great Sphinx Actually Formed by Erosion?, 2 November 2023, Architectural Digest. Accessed online 31 December 2023.
Orf, Darren, 2023, A New Study Reveals the Astonishing Way the Great Sphinx in Egypt Actually Formed. 30 October 2023, https://www.popularmechanics.com. Accessed online 31 October 2023.
Wikipedia, Yardang, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yardang
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