(I) In a series of expeditions between 1991 and 1993 led
by
John Anthony West, and independent Egyptologist,
scientific investigators conducted geological and seismic
surveys around the Great Sphinx of Egypt. The
chief geologist was
Dr. Robert Schoch, Professor of Geology at Boston
University, and the chief seismologist was Thomas Dobecki
from the highly-respected Houston consulting firm,
McBride-Ratclif & Associates.
(II) The team's conclusions were as follows:
A. Geology, The pattern of erosion on the
Sphinx indicates that it was carved at the end of the
last Ice Age, when heavy rains fell in the eastern Sahara -
perhaps more than 12,000 years ago. This contrasts starkly with
the 'orthodox' Egyptological dating for the Sphinx
of around 4,500 years ago.
B. Seismography. The seismic survey indicated the
existence of several unexplored tunnels and cavities in the
bedrock beneath the Sphinx, including a large
rectangular chamber at a depth of some 25 feet beneath the
monuments front paws.
(III) In 1993 John West and his team were
physically expelled from the site by Dr. Zahi Hawass then
(and now) the Egyptian government's Chief Inspector of
Antiquities for the Pyramids and Sphinx. He appeared to be
angered by the suggestion that the
Sphinx might be far older than the civilization of
Egypt itself - and thus the work of a lost civilization - and
was particularly incensed by an NBC television film that was
made about the team's work. This film linked the Sphinx
to
Atlantis
and suggested that the chamber beneath the paws might contain
the legendary "Hall of Records of Atlantis".
Hawass called these claims, "American
hallucinations...There is no scientific base for any of this. We
have older monuments in the same area. They definitely weren't
built by men from Atlantis. It's nonsense and we won't allow our
monuments to be exploited for personal enrichment. The
Sphinx is the soul of Egypt."
(IV) An article in the Egyptian press responding to the
NBC film quoted Dr. Hawass on his further reasons for
expelling John West
and his team from the Sphinx enclosure: "I have
found that their work is carried out by installing endoscopes in
the Sphinx
body and shooting film for all phases of the work in a
propagandistic but not scientific manner. I therefore suspended
the work of this unscientific mission and made a report which
was presented to the permanent commission who rejected the
mission's work in the future."
(V) The NBC film was produced by a certain Boris Said
and partially financed by investments from the members of the
Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE).
The ARE, headquartered in Virginia Beach in the US, is a
multi-million dollar organization that exists to promulgate the
teachings and prophecies of an American psychic, Edgar Cayce,
who died in 1947. Prominent amongst Cayce's pronouncements were
many statements to the effect that the Sphinx hand
been built in 10,500 BC and that survivors of Atlantis
had concealed beneath it a 'Hall of Records'
containing all the wisdom of their lost civilization and the
true history of the human race. Cayce
prophesied that this Hall of Records would be rediscovered
and opened between 1996 and 1998. He connected the opening
to the second coming of Christ.
(VI) In 1995 John West and Professor Robert
Schoch of Boston University put in an application to the
Egyptian authorities to resume their research. Their application
was ignored.
(VII) At the beginning of April 1996, the Egyptian
authorities granted a one- year license to a new team to conduct
surveys around the Sphinx and the Giza
necropolis
using seismic equipment and ground-penetrating radar.
This team, which claims academic sponsorship from Florida State
University, is largely financed through the Schor Foundation
of New York - by Dr. Joseph Schor, an American
multimillionaire. Dr. Schor is a life member of the
ARE and wrote on the 24th of May 1994 of his great personal
interest in corroborating "the Cayce records which
indicated that the culture which led to the building of the
Pyramids dates to 10,400 BC." He also stated his wish "to
further delineate that civilization."
(VIII) On April 11th 1996 Dr. Schor stated of his
current project at the Sphinx: "We do not work for
the
Edgar Cayce Group... The major purpose of the
Schor Foundation and the Florida State University is to aid in
the preservation and restoration of the Pyramids and Sphinx. In
addition, we are surveying the underground of the Giza Plateau
to find faults and chasms that might collapse. This will
increase the safety of the plateau..."
(IX) Also financed by Dr. Schor is a short video
film shot at the end of 1995 by Boris Said and produced
in early 1996. The film opens with Dr. Zahi Hawass
scrambling into a tunnel leading under the Sphinx.
When he reaches the bottom he turns to face the camera and
whispers to the viewer: "Even Indiana Jones will never dream to
be here. Can you believe it? We are now inside the Sphinx in
this tunnel. This tunnel has never been opened before. No-one
really knows what's inside this tunnel. But we are going to open
it for the first time." In commentary the film's narrator goes
on to state, "Edgar Cayce, America's famous 'Sleeping
Prophet', predicted that a chamber would be discovered beneath
the Sphinx - a chamber containing the recorded
history of human civilization. For the first time we'll show you
what lies beneath this great statue...a chamber which will be
opened tonight, live, for our television cameras."
(X) Dr. Schor has stated (on the 11th of April
1996) that this video is not a promotional venture aimed at
hooking a major US network to televise a live opening of a
chamber under the Sphinx. On the contrary, he
insists, "It was made to test script and equipment and was made
in November 1995 which was many months before we received
approval for our expedition. We have abandoned its use..."
(XI) On the 14th of April 1996, Dr. Zahi Hawass
announced in the Egyptian press that there were secret
tunnels under the Sphinx and around the Pyramids and
stated his belief that these tunnels would prove to "carry many
secrets of the building of the Pyramids."
