We met Bauval in July at an A.R.E. conference in Virginia Beach sub-titled Atlantis Rising, (purely coincidental). He was the featured speaker. We asked about the debate over 2,500 B.C. vs. 10,500 B.C. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the pyramids of Giza were built, physically built, in 2,500 B.C. We can't escape that. The area is carbon-dated. But the knowledge of building it was known long, long before. I think that what you're looking at is a blueprint that finally took shape. And the blueprint originated in the period of 10,500 B.C. But consonant with the evidence cited by John Anthony West, Bauval believes that the Sphinx was indeed carved out in 10,500 B.C. However, while West arrived at this date geologically, Bauval used astronomy.
Astronomical correlations are at the very heart of Bauval's discoveries and theories. As an amateur astronomer, he has delved deeply into the connections, but many of them are obvious. In fact, it is nothing short of astounding that for over two hundred years now, Egyptologists have avoided the stellar implications of ancient Egyptian beliefs and architecture, when it appears that their entire religious apparatus was based on the constellations. In his book, Bauval blames this on the longtime domination of Egyptology by one man, American James Henry Breasted, who adopted a monotheistic solar explanation which threw the star theory into disrepute.
Astrologers have long known about the 25,600-year cycle commonly referred to as the Precession of the Equinoxes. Every 2160 years, the vernal point, moving along the ecliptic, enters a new sign of the Zodiac, going backwards, due to the wobble of the Earth. According to Manly Hall and others, each change of sign ushers in a new religio-philosophical dispensation. In The Orion Mystery, Bauval makes the bold claim that the ancient Egyptian astronomer-priests knew about precession as early as 10,500 B.C., which was the time that the constellation of Orion was at its lowest point on the meridian, and therefore started its upward cycle. This would be incredible, if true, because it means they would have had to carefully observe star movements, without telescopes, for thousands of years. The importance of Orion to the ancient Egyptians is, of course, well known from the Pyramid Texts, as the home of Sahu, or Osiris in the sky. In our conversation, Bauval elaborated on this, pointing out how precession was used. At 10,500 B.C. when the constellation of Orion is at the low point, it also happens to be crossing the meridian at the time of the vernal equinox. On that day, the vernal point would be due East. That immediately draws your attention to the Sphinx, because the Sphinx looks due East. And when you investigate the position of that vernal point at 10,500 B.C. you'll find that it is exactly between Virgo and Leo. The constellation was performing its first heliacal rising. This means that the Age of Leo was just beginning. Now, this coincidence is a million to one. It's luring us to consider that the image of the Sphinx is a symbol of the lion in the sky, Leo. The message is... look at the Age of Leo.'
So, according to Bauval, the Sphinx was built to establish the advent of the Age of Leo as a marker in precessional time, and to identify it for future ages as what the Pyramid Texts call the first time. Then, says Bauval, 8000 years later, the pyramid builders gave us further evidence that the plan was first hatched at 10,500 B.C. The arrangement of the Giza pyramids with respect to the Nile doesn't quite match the pattern in the stars and milky way at 2,500 B.C. But if the star map is rotated about 30 degrees to conform to the stellar pattern at 10,500 B.C., it matches perfectly. Bauval says, My conclusion about Giza is that we're certain that it is a collective marker of Leo. They're both linked, but if you look at it in 2,500 B.C. it doesn't match. You're looking at the wrong time. The time that it's telling you to look at is 10,500 B.C. Now, how you explain that it took shape at 2,500 B.C. is another matter. But, it did.
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