Word: sphinx
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...they look anything but eternal. Rubble and rock dust crumbling from the pyramid of Chephren have accumulated in piles on its lower levels. In the pyramid of Cheops, encrustations of salt, left by the evaporation of brackish groundwater, have eaten away at the walls of the burial chamber. The Sphinx, a few hundred feet away from the pyramids, has lost a 600-lb. chunk from its right shoulder, and the neck is so weak that the statue's massive head is in danger of falling...
...Egyptian antiquities makes their preservation difficult enough. The pyramids were ancient when the Romans invaded Egypt, and the Sphinx, made of soft, easily eroded limestone, already had a 2,000-year history of deterioration and attempted repairs. But the ravages of time pale next to the destruction wrought by man. The burgeoning Egyptian population, which today tops 53 million, has combined with the hordes of tourists arriving each year to wreak more havoc in the past few decades than the effects of thousands of years of erosion...
...Sphinx. Its limestone, fragile to begin with, erodes rapidly when it comes in contact with water. "Even the ancient Egyptians knew this rock was not in good condition," notes Sayed Tawfik, chairman of the EAO. Repairs in the early 1980s used cement, which introduced water to the limestone and trapped existing water inside. More recently, workers have used dry limestone powder, similar in composition to the original rock, to strengthen the base of the Sphinx. One proposal from the Getty Institute's Monreal: place the entire statue under a protective canopy for several months at least, while exploring alternatives...
After enduring for thousands of years, Egypt's priceless archaeological treasures, from Abu Simbel to the Sphinx, are deteriorating badly as a result of pollution, pressure from tourism and the country's burgeoning population. In a century or two the antiquities may be gone, and the entire world will share the loss. -- What others can do to help...
Some days later the Lampy's castle, which had once aimed its sphinx-like gaze down Mt. Auburn St. without obstruction, suddenly acquired a tree in front of its main portal. The arboreal eyesore stood on a scrap of city-owned land between Mt. Auburn and Bow Streets...