The Sphinx has long been established as the face of Egypt identity known today. Although it is hard to pinpoint the exact construction period, the Sphinx is approximated around the 4th king of 4th dynasty, c. 2575–c. 2465 BCE for the pharaoh Khafre. This can be linked to the Sphinx temple, the Causeway and the Khafre mortuary temple that are all part of a complex which predates Dynasty IV. The lion has long been a symbol associated with the sun in ancient Near Eastern civilizations. Images depicting the Egyptian king in the form of a lion smiting his enemies date as far back as the Early Dynastic Period. This shows the Sphinx could be loosely based off of what they have seen in the region. This concept is not new to civilizations depicting strong animals in accordance to rulers of societies. he royal human head on a lion's body symbolized power and might, controlled by the intelligence of the pharaoh, guarantor of the cosmic order, or ma'at. Its symbolism survived for two and a half millennia in the iconography of Egyptian civilization. An easy way to identify the Sphinx's authenticity from the Egyptians is the material used to construct the monument. The material of the Sphinx is the limestone bedrock of what geologists call the Muqqatam Formation, which originated fifty million years ago from sediments deposited at the bottom of sea waters that engulfed northeast Africa during the Middle Eocene period. The good, hard limestone that lay around the Sphinx's head was probably all quarried for blocks to build the pyramids. To do so, they trenched out a deep, U-shaped ditch that isolated a huge rectangular bedrock block for carving the Sphinx. This enclosure is deepest immediately around the body, with a shelf at the rear of the monument where it was left unfinished and a shallower extension to the north where important archaeological finds have been made. Today, much of the work on the Great Sphinx at Giza is not directed at further explorations or excavations, but rather the preservation of this great wonder of Egypt. This is the focus, and while some might even today have the antiquity authorities digging about the monument looking for hidden chambers holding the secrets of Atlantis, that is not likely to happen any time soon.
