The Great Sphinx of Giza is a limestone sculpture of a mythical creature that sits on the west bank of the Nile, said to possess the face of the pharaoh Khafre. It is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt and is commonly believed to have been built by ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom to protect the Fourth Dynasty leader. However, it is not the only one of its kind.
Tony Robinson uncovered another sphinx during his Channel 5 series “Egyptian Tomb Hunting” in Gebel el-Silsila.
He said last month: “The skilled workers really were the engine room of Egypt, but we’re only just getting to know them.
“This is a funny-looking old thing, isn’t it?
“Oh, I see what it is now!
“There’s a beard here, then there would have been a big head on top of it – it’s a sphinx.
“But what is it doing here?”
Egyptologist John Ward explained how the region of ancient Egypt was the hub for workers sculpturing limestone for the Giza Plateau.
He said: “Well, Silsilia is not just famous for its quarries, it was a workshop for anything that was made for sandstone.
“This poor old girl (sphinx), unfortunately, due to the cracking, was abandoned.”
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During the same series, an “unexpected” discovery stunned Mr Robinson in the city of Aswan.
Archeologists Abd el-Monem claimed it could have been the tomb of Imhotep after analysing the inscriptions within.
He said: “So far about nine tombs have been found.
“They broke in by using mechanical digging loaders and this was maybe more than 25, 30 people per night.
“The main goal for them was to steal treasure.
“This was the tomb of Imhotep.”
Mr Robinson then revealed this is the first time anyone has been given such access.
He added: “You can still see signs of the robbers’ work, the digger smashed the stone roof of the tomb and doorways have been damaged and broken.
“It’s possible these tombs laid undisturbed until a few years ago and this is the first time anyone has been allowed to film them.
“Imhotep controlled Aswan around 1450BC, just a few generations before Tutankhamun and Ramses The Great.
“But it is not painted, it is not finished, Imhotep almost certainly died before work on his tomb was complete.”