Great Sphinx of Giza Constructed with Rocks Containing Ancient Crocodile Fossils, Scientists Discover

The Great Sphinx of Giza, one of ancient Egypt's most mysterious landmarks, may hold a hidden secret within its very stone: the fossilized remains of ancient crocodiles. Scientists have discovered a new species of extinct crocodile in the 54-million-year-old rocks of the Mokattam Formation, the same limestone quarried over 4,000 years ago to construct the monument.

The newly identified species has been named Herugavialis cairensis, after the ancient Egyptian god Heru, believed to be depicted by the Sphinx. Researchers suggest that the monument itself might contain fossils of these long-extinct creatures. "It could! It was built from the same rocks where Herugavialis was found, so who knows," said lead author Dr. Paul Burke of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. He added, "What I don’t recommend is tearing apart the Sphinx to see if there is!"

Co-author Professor Philip Mannion of University College London noted the coincidence between the Sphinx's famously missing nose and the fossilized skull's missing snout tip, which inspired the naming of the new crocodile species. "Given this coincidence with the famously missing nose of the Great Sphinx, we decided to name the new crocodile after the Egyptian god Heru," Mannion stated.

Herugavialis belongs to the gavial family, characterized by long, thin snouts, with only two species currently living in freshwater environments across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The fossilized skull of Herugavialis was initially discovered in the 1920s but was mistakenly identified as belonging to a living species, the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii). However, advanced paleontological techniques, including CT scanning, allowed researchers to identify key differences, leading to the classification of a previously undiscovered extinct species. The findings were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Despite the damaged snout tip on the fossil, its distinctive skull shape provides clues about the animal's lifestyle. Dr. Burke believes Herugavialis, with its long snout and sharp teeth similar to the modern Indian gharial, likely fed on fish. The presence of numerous fish fossils in the Mokattam Formation supports this hypothesis.

While gavials have disappeared from the Mediterranean, fossil records indicate they were once widespread globally for over 100 million years, inhabiting shallow marine environments. Scientists theorize that Herugavialis shared its habitat with at least two other long-snouted gavial species. "Throughout much of the last 50 million years, the Mediterranean region hosted a high diversity of crocodiles, including gavials," Dr. Burke commented. "However, this diversity fluctuated over time, seemingly corresponding to changes in global temperature and sea level, before the loss of all crocodiles in this region as a result of the drying of the Mediterranean approximately six million years ago."