User Reviews

I first personally saw this doc on TV back not long after it was first produced in the early 90's, and doing some general holiday net surfing this afternoon, was reminded of it again after having not thought about it for quite some time. Since it's available on Amazon Prime Video & I had some time today to watch, I figured I'd check it out. Before I did, I did remember being influenced by it to the degree that I was left feeling pretty skeptical concerning the currently established narrative among orthodox Egyptologists regarding the Great Sphynx... And I still am - something that definitely piqued my interest & prompted me to watch it again.

The doc - narrated by Charlton Heston - starts off on solid, scientific footing. Inconsistencies with respect to traditional ideas about the statue's patterns of erosion are raised, investigated in a rational, scientific fashion and lead to some very unorthodox conclusions concerning both The Great Sphynx' age and origin. This is pretty solid stuff, and could well have been a great example of researchers with the courage to "think outside the box" once again upsetting the apple cart of orthodox historical/scientific thought. However...

With a (then) recently found chamber as a pretext, the film then goes completely off the rails in the last 20 minutes - first citing clairvoyant Edgar Cayce's reference to a hidden chamber which linked it to Atlantis, and then bringing in a "lecture" by pop conspiracy theorist and pseudoscientist (who doesn't have a university degree, let alone even B. Sc.) Richard C. Hoagland. Things then go very quickly from the unorthodox to the absurd, and a critical viewer - who might previously had been quite entertained by some very fresh ideas springing from pretty solid evidence - will be doing a face palm... WTF?? Why'd they go and blow such an interesting hour so thoroughly out of the water in the last 15-20 minutes?

After I pulled my own face from my palm, I was honestly left scratching my head over the decision making process involved with the production here - pretty meticulously building something up over 60 minutes or so, and then tanking it in the last 20? It was almost as though it had been done by two different production teams with pretty divergent ends in mind for the project.

Anyway, notwithstanding that nonsense at the end, it is a very interesting piece of documentary work that should challenge the established beliefs, for those open-minded enough to be challenged, concerning the Great Sphynx... But unfortunately, in the end, also nurture the fantasies of those credulous enough to hold dear purely speculative/imaginative theories that have little to no credible evidence to support them. *Sigh*...

This is the Documentary that shook up Egyptian Archaeology when it was broadcast on NBC television. "The Mystery of the Sphinx," introduced American viewers to the discovery by John Anthony West and Robert Schoch that the Great Sphinx of Giza might be thousands of years older than its assumed date of 2500 BC. Narrated by Charlton Heston, the documentary provides evidence that the ancient Egyptians possessed scientific knowledge unknown to us and carried on the wisdom tradition of an earlier lost civilization. Finally this documentary been released on DVD.

You know, there's a lot going for this documentary about one of the oldest an made structures on the face of this Earth. New revelations and new conclusions about the Egyptian Sphinx and a nearby temple are pretty amazing stuff. When I first saw this documentary back in the 90s I was riveted.

That is, until the mumbo-jumbo pseudo science about ancient humans from a lost continent and aliens reared their head. I mean, why throw that in there as a serious contemplation to what had been a solid and serious documentary? Just why?

But, never mind. John Anthony West puts his ideas forward, and Charlton Heston narrates what could have been one of the greatest historical documentaries of all time. But, even West himself says all the other kooky crap associated with his ideas is, just that, an unfortunate association, because all he's done is taken the science a few extra steps to really examine what the geological evidence states about the Egyptian Sphinx, and, form there, to draw likely conclusions about what that evidence states.

And it is compelling beyond belief. It says that civilization may be older than we thought by many orders of magnitude, and that the cradle of civilization may be near the Sphinx itself, whose life may have started out as a simple temple to some local animist deity, but, through the eons, was transformed into what we have today.

Really, if you can get by the junk science part, and just focus on West's research, you should have an enjoyable time of it.

Give it a watch and see what you think.

*EDIT* A more recent documentary aired by the Smithsonian examines the same evidence, draws some of the same hard factual inferences made in this documentary, but gives a more cogent and solid theory of conclusion, which holds up better to scrutiny, and gybes better with known facts regarding construction techniques: "Secrets - The Sphinx"

The mystery of the sphinx continues. See Supernatural Science (1999) episode Monumental Mysteries and Wikipedia (2010). Geology and Egyptology remain at loggerheads 17 years after Mystery of the Sphinx was released.

The geological claims -- which I won't specify to avoid spoiling -- still stand. And the Egyptologists' objections also remain valid.

The final 1/5 of the DVD is embarrassing rubbish about Mars and Atlantis, but the central tenet remains fascinating. And the geologist is accredited to Boston University. If anyone ever solves this mystery, it will be headline news.

if you compare the erosion on the sphinx face to the erosion on its flanks, it becomes obvious the the face was sculpted thousands of years more recently than the body. so the face was re-carved -- perhaps from the head of a lion -- to the head of a 4th dynasty pharoah. but the main point of the documentary is far more sensational than that.

I first saw this video when it aired in 1993. I was fascinated and, as a 5th grade science teacher, teaching a unit on weathering, I taped it to show my students. The kids were as fascinated as I was! It started a lot of discussion among them. The next day, two of the boys came to me, all excited, that they had found info on Dr. Schock and that he lived in my town. They asked if I could invite him to the school to talk with them. I was very happy to see their enthusiasm, and found Dr. Schock's phone number and gave him a call. He was very kind and said he'd be happy to talk with them. My principal asked if he would present a talk to the entire school, since the 5th grade was studying weathering, and the 6th grade was studying ancient Egypt. I asked Dr. Schock if he would do that, and he said he'd be happy to! So, he came to school and talked to all the kids, and his theory became the topic of conversations for quite awhile. As for me, and the kids, we agreed with his theory, even with our limited knowledge.

I have always been fascinated by ancient Egypt. And I was always confused by the Sphinx. My question was always about the artisans of ancient Egypt, who were so meticulous in their work, yet created the head of the Sphinx vastly smaller than the body. I always thought it was originally a lion and recut with the face of a man.

This theory seems to fit with what I was thinking whenever I saw it.

Dr. Schock and Mr. West are the Gallileos of our age. Had they stated their findings in his time, they would have been jailed! Today, people are listening, and Egyptologists are freaking out.

I recommend this video to any, like myself and my students, who question the origins of the Sphinx. It's very informative and gets you thinking!

This video has been recut since its first showing. They call it "the director's cut." They've added in things like Edgar Casey's prophecies, which is interesting but I'm not sure it helps the discussion, and arguments, between geologists and egyptologists. But, Egyptology is based in historical documents, while this new theory is based in science. I'm siding with Mr. West and Dr. Schock. Science beats history every time.

It's interesting how later discoveries support ridiculed and rejected theories to the point that they are eventually accepted. When James F. Romano said that there was no similar evidence of civilizations that supports the theory of a more ancient origin of the Egyptian Sphinx statue, I assume that was before archaeologists estimated the age of Gobekli tepe to possibly around 11000 years old. It's all just theory but the more we learn, the more we find out what we don't know. It would be interesting to find out what lies under the Sphinx's paw.