Workers repairing the ailing Sphinx have discovered an ancient passage leading deep into the body of the mysterious statue crouched at the foot of the Giza pyramids.
That the tunnel is old - very old - is not in dispute, said Giza antiquities chief Zahi Hawass. Evidence indicates it dates from pharaonic times.What's puzzling is who built the passage? Why? And where does it lead?
Hawass said mystery lovers will have to bide their time to learn what the passage is all about. He doesn't plan to remove the stones blocking its entrance until at least February.
The secret tunnel burrows into the northern side of the 240-foot-long limestone statue, about halfway between the Sphinx's out-stretched front paws and its curved tail.
Though Hawass said he's thrilled about the new mystery of the Sphinx, he warns that treasure-seekers are likely to be disappointed. Based on long experience with the Sphinx, he predicts that antiquities workers will find nothing more than rocks as they maneuver down the passage.
"But the rocks are their own treasure, because they'll give experts a close-up view at what's happening inside the Sphinx," he said.
Few, if any, structures are as haunting and mysterious as the Sphinx, built by pharaonic artisans 4,600 years ago as half-man, half-beast. Egyptologists debate much about the Sphinx, including whose placid and alluring face was the model.
Most agree it's Pharaoh Cheph-ren, son of the pharaoh of the Great Pyramid, Cheops.
Treasure-seekers have searched inside the Sphinx since antiquity.
No treasure is known to have surfaced, although in 1987 a secret passage yielded some shoes and an early 20th century newspaper.
The new passage was discovered by restorers repairing frail portions of the statue. Ancients crafted the Sphinx from good and bad rock. Ever since, man has been trying to keep the Sphinx from falling apart.