The Great Sphinx of Egypt has fascinated humanity for millennia and even today, this lion bodied monument with the head of a pharoah, still remains a monument shrouded in mystery and wonder.

It sits in front of the three large Giza pyramids from the 4th Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, and throughout Ancient Egyptian times, it was been subject to a large amount of restoration, with much of the body covered by masonry. The Greek and the Romans also worked on the monument.

Buried in the sands of time, it was finally excavated in the 19th century by Giovanni Caviglia and Howard Vyse and then again between 1925 and 1936 by Emile Baraize.

In this video, you will see compiled photographs taken during the Baraize excavation in the 1920s and 30s, followed by pictures taken by Mark Lehner from the later excavations of the 1970s and 1980s.