The Sphinx of Giza May Predate Khafre

The Great Sphinx of Giza stands on the Giza Plateau near Cairo, Egypt. It has a lion's body about 73 metres long and a human head about 20 metres high, carved from the limestone bedrock itself. The body sits inside a deep enclosure cut below the surrounding plateau, so the builders had to remove stone around it before finishing the statue. It is an enormous monument, yet no inscription made at the time names the person who began it.

The statue is usually linked to Pharaoh Khafre, the ruler of Egypt's Fourth Dynasty in the 26th century BCE. The main reason is not a signature carved on the Sphinx. It is the statue's position beside the Sphinx Temple, the Valley Temple, and the causeway leading to Khafre's pyramid. The buildings share a close architectural relationship and use stone from the same area. From that relationship, researchers place the Sphinx in Khafre's reign.