These researchers have made a great discovery.
Scientists say they have finally discovered how exactly the Great Sphinx was built in Egypt more than 4,500 years ago.
For decades, experts have agreed that the detailed face of the iconic limestone statue found along the Nile River at Giza was likely hand-carved by stonemasons, but they have never reached a conclusion about how the massive body was created. layered first.
A study by New York University researchers, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Fluids, postulated that erosion can create sphinx-like shapes.
“Our findings offer a possible ‘origin story’ for how Sphinx-like formations can arise from erosion,” Leif Ristroph, lead author of the study, said in a statement.
“Our laboratory experiments showed that strikingly sphinx-like shapes may, in fact, come from materials eroded by rapid flows.”
Not only does this mean that nature played a role in the creation of the colossal statue, but the formation may have inspired the Egyptians to make it into a statue in the first place.
“These results show what ancient people may have found in the deserts of Egypt and why they imagined a fantastic creature,” Ristroph and his team wrote.
To test their theory, the team analyzed how wind creates and moves against unusual rock formations, called yardangs, found in deserts.
The researchers took mounds of soft clay with harder, less erodible material embedded inside them to replicate the terrain in northeastern Egypt and then washed these formations with a stream of fast-flowing water to act like the wind.
In the end, the clay ended up resembling a sphinx-like formation that was later detailed by humans.
Experts have thought that the detailed face of the limestone statue found was probably hand-carved by masons. Print Collector/Getty Images A model of the Sphinx has been carved through an experiment that replicates wind moving against once-shape mounds of clay, with the harder material becoming the lion’s “head” and other features. New York University Applied Mathematics Laboratory.
The Great Sphinx is believed to be a manifestation of the sun god, built to protect the pyramids around 2500 BC. C., during the IV dynasty, along with the Great Pyramids of Giza.
The experiment tested a theory first proposed in 1981 by geologist Farouk El-Baz, who claimed that the Great Sphinx was created naturally by wind eroding sand.
New York University’s experiment to recreate a yardang resulted in a lion’s “head,” a cut-out “neck,” “paws” placed forward on the ground, and an arched “back.”
“In fact, there are yardangs today that look like sitting or lying animals, which supports our conclusions,” Ristroph said.
“Our laboratory experiments showed that strikingly sphinx-like shapes may, in fact, come from materials eroded by rapid flows,” stated one researcher. Universal Images Group via Getty Images
“The work can also be useful for geologists, as it reveals factors that affect rock formations, that is, that they are not homogeneous or uniform in their composition,” Ristroph added.
“The unexpected shapes come from how the flows are diverted toward the harder or less erodible parts.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn