These researchers have made a great discovery.
Scientists believe they have finally figured out 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 at Giza was most likely hand-carved by masons – but they have never concluded how the massive, layered body was created.
A study conducted by researchers at New York University, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Fluids, analyzed how wind moves against rock formations to finally understand this mystery.
The researchers took mounds of soft clay with harder, less erosive materials embedded in them to mimic the terrain of northeastern Egypt and then washed these formations with fast-flowing water to act as wind.
Experts believe that the detailed face of the limestone statue found was most likely hand-carved by stonemasons. Print Collector/Getty Images The Sphinx model was carved through an experiment that replicated wind moving against a lump of lumpy clay, with the harder material forming the lion’s “head” and other features. NYU Applied Mathematics Laboratory.
Eventually, the clay eventually resembled a Sphinx-like formation.
“Our findings offer a possible ‘origin story’ for how formations like the Sphinx could have arisen from erosion,” said Leif Ristroph, senior author of the study, in a statement.
“Our laboratory experiments show that surprising Sphinx-like shapes can, in fact, originate from material eroded by fast flows.”
The experiment resulted in a lion’s “head”, “neck”, “paws” stretched forward on the ground and a curved “back”.
“In fact, there are yards that exist today that look like animals sitting or lying down, lending support to our conclusion,” Ristroph said.
Shown here is another view of the Sphinx. “Our laboratory experiments show that the surprising Sphinx-like shape can, in fact, originate from material eroded by fast flows,” said one researcher. Universal Image Group via Getty Images
The experiment tested a theory originally proposed in 1981 by geologist Farouk El-Baz, who claimed the Great Sphinx was naturally created by wind eroding sand.
“The work may also be useful to geologists because it reveals the factors that influence the formation of rocks—namely, that they are not homogeneous or uniform in composition,” added Ristroph.
“The unexpected shape comes from the way the flow is diverted around the harder or less eroded parts.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
