All objects of the Giza necropolis, including the pyramids and the Sphinx, show signs of erosion. According to some researchers, this indicates that the area was once flooded by the sea. One of the proofs of this hypothesis is a unique find.
Archaeologist Sheriff El Morsi has been excavating at Giza for 20 years. In 2013, together with his colleague and founder of the Giza for Humanity organization, Antoine Zhigal, he published a study on this find, which caused heated discussions.
Dr. Robert M. Schloch was one of the first scientists to propose that the buildings at Giza are much older than commonly believed. In the early 90s, he stated that, judging by water erosion, the Sphinx is 1,000 years older than archaeologists believe. Thus, the time of its creation dates back to 5000-9000 years. BC e.
Morsy went further in research. While photographing erosion on the megaliths in Giza, he came to the conclusion that once everything here was flooded with an ode.
Erosion at the base of the great pyramid (pyramid of Cheops)
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“While photographing the ancient coastline, I nearly fell off the block,” Morsy said in an article published on the Gigal Research website.
Morsy hypothesized that the Giza plateau was flooded by the sea. The place where the Menkara temple is located was an ancient lagoon. The sea covered the necropolis of Giza, the Sphinx and temple complexes.
Other scientists believe that the sea urchin got into the rock during the formation of limestone 30 million years ago. The ancient fossil was simply exposed by erosion. But Morsy believes that the animal is from a more modern era, as it is very well preserved, and it is a large individual, unlike the tiny marine organisms commonly found in limestone.
The same sea urchin
“We can see the smallest details of the exoskeleton, which means that the sea creature was petrified in a relatively recent era. This is not a fossil animal that lived 30 million years ago,”says Morsy.
According to Morsy, the flooding was significant, the sea level exceeded the present by 75 m. The coastline stretched from the pyramid of Khafre to the Temple of Menkara.
Especially strong erosion is observed on the Sphinx, the Sphinx temple and the first 20 layers of the Cheops pyramid. The blocks of the temple contain sediments, which are usually observed in lagoons and shallow seas.
However, when exactly this flood occurred is very difficult to determine. Over the past 140,000 years, sea level fluctuations have been greater than 120 meters due to the expansion and melting of glaciers during glacial cycles, according to the Australian National Research and Applied Research Association.
Photo: pius99 / iStock / Thinkstock
