vintage sphinx excavation/ restauration photos 1920s to 1980s

These rare photos offer really an interesting view to this ancient monument.
Theseare from 1920s to the 30s and later 70s to 80s.

First part
1920s- 30s
excavations led by Émile Baraize

sphinx looking north


sphinx looking east


sphinx looking south


remains of roman staircase in front of paws




edge of sphinx enclosure in front of the paws.
mudbrick wall on eastern edge of old sphinx temple, next to roman staircase





excavating the sphinx temple


sphinx restauration 1926





n-w corner


restauration 1925


rear, tail




rear with rock fissure


n-w corner rear


trap door added after restauration work


dynamite crater of vyse in the top back behind head


worker stands in the cavity in the head


north side of sphinx


cavity in the north side ( bricked up now)



northern rear paw



front inner toes of north hind paw with claw pattern cut in bedrock and phase II casing stones


south rear paw


south front paw


front paws


chin


left ear and headdress


detail below right ear


headdress with snake missing, snake was found in the rubble below


snake from headdress


limestone door jamb of Thutmose IV from sphinx excavations


18th dynasty finds from sphinx excavations

a reply to: anti72

That is very nice... thank you
do we know what that cavity on the head is for??

part II
1979- 1982


winter solstice sun setting over sphinx head from Amonhep II temple sanctuary,
lines up with entrance doorway to temple



general view sphinx looking west



enclosure west wall


enclosure s-w corner




south wall


west wall


18th dynasty sphinx temple of Amenhotep II


winter solstice shadow of sphinx head into entrance of Amenhotep II temple


weathering inside sphinx enclosure


blocks removed on north rear paw


stonework to chest, shoulder, north side, view down east.


north forepaw


red paint exposed at seam between large recut blocks, showing location in wide angle of front sphinx ( 1980)


sampling of the red paint residue on the sphinx


sphinx pavement facing west


south paw joining to the body


behind the dream stela



chapel between the paws


inside the northern forepaw



northern forepaw


bricked up cavity north side


useful PDFs

www.scirp.org...
www.academia.edu...
www.aeraweb.org...
zenodo.org...

a reply to: anti72

S & F

a reply to: Terpene

no, this is not clear, but Lehner writes this in his dissertation 1991:

There is a hole cut into the top of the head between the uraeus and the protrusion, but I have not been able to measure these features on the spot. I measured the protrusion by triangulation. From Arch. Lacau photo CI 33 (Pl. 5.39), the hole appears to be as deep as the height of the man standing in it. This would make the hole approximately 1.75 m deep. The photograph suggests that the hole is between 1.50 m and 1.60 m wide north-south, and slightly longer east-west. Its position on the plan of the Sphinx (Fig. 5.1) has been estimated from CI 33 (Pl. 5.39) and from aerial photographs. During Baraize's work in 1926, the area around the hole was paved with cement and closed with an iron trap door secured with a fly-wing bolt.

A stone slot to insert the wings of the Sphinx. They probably weren’t made of stone but of wood and reed something lighter sail or flag like structures.

Just a thought because sphinxes are supposed to have wings and this one dose not.

a reply to: anti72

a reply to: Athetos

Possibly. But the wings usually come from the back, not the head.

The hole in the head is most likely for a headdress. Possibly where the snake used to reside.

a reply to: KKLOCO

I was under the impression that it was originally thought there could be a chamber in the head, so this hole was cut..

when they realise there wasn't one they stopped drilling/digging...

PA

Ah yea my mistake in the pictures there is the label dynamite crater behind the head. Then the picture under it labeled work stands in hole in head.

Perhaps there was a slot where the dynamite blast in the back is and they only blasted it because they believed it to be a sealed entrance when in reality it had a different purpose.

a reply to: KKLOCO

a reply to: PerfectAnomoly

I was already imagining someone standing in there posing as the deity at ceremonies, people might have been more impressed by a talking sphinx...

Oh well my Phantasy...

what I find interesting is how the giza landscape since the early 20s has changed compared to today.
almost everything was still ( and over and over again) covered with sand, sphinx with enclosure, temples, mastabas etc..
the village to the east was tiny.

when you look at the fotos and read some of the papers about the real geological situation of the giza plateau, additionally with all the groundwater problems ( up to today) it gets quite clear that any munbo-jumbo stories about huge secret chambers of Atlanteans beneath are only that, stories.

one does not even have to strive the esoteric 'psychic' Edgar Cayce BS.
THIS place would be REALLY the LAST place on earth you would decide to hide precious records from 10,500 BC.
ANY other place woud be better.

a reply to: anti72

Ever heard of that vault holding most of Spanish gold protected by water. Maybe the spanish didn't come up with that idea?

a reply to: anti72

Many thanks for this. It's always great to see ancient sites before they got manipulated for tourism.

and if you wonder what kind of cameras these times were used, this is a smaller one ( 6x9 cm format) Voigtländer Avus from 1927.
More common were the half plate or whole plate cameras (and before of course with glass plates)

a very nice camera, I like to use this analogue stuff, think of Linhof or similar, these negatives are HUGE.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Even to this day you arent allowed to fly a drone with a camera to take photos of the sphinx of the top. I heard there is a vault at the sphinx. Well claims had being made about this before.

No one now knows though.

a reply to: HawkEyi

you can believe what you want but it is classic hearsay and newer conspiracy theories after the false Cayce readings.
Bauvall wrote an excellent book about this and cleared up almost everything of that stuff.
Secret chambers revisited.

as you can see for yourself when you take the little efford of reading and research.

it is a sculpture cut from the different geological formations. Under it bedrock with natural fissures, lots of them.
Under it groundwater level, what causes problems up to today. Why do you think the AE dug drainage channels into the giza plateau?

cheers

a reply to: HawkEyi

You may like this video and this guy's channel--he has quite a few videos on the sphinx:

in 2017 I did a game with the Tomb Raider Level Editor, The Halls of Records , ten levels about the popular myths about atlantis and sphinx based on the material of Edgar Cayce.. first level is in the great pyramid, finding Khufus burial chamber.
so if you are a classic gamer maybe this is fun for you..
not a shooter, more classic explorer style.
download here.