THE PYRAMIDS, THE SPHINX, AND THE GREAT WALL

This posting is the result of my curiosity to see how these world-class sites appear in GOOGLE EARTH, which is available free to the public.                       

                                THE GIZA PYRAMID 

The Giza Pyramid is located near the southern part of the city of Cairo, on the west bank of the Nile River in Giza, Egypt. This pyramid is among the world’s largest man-made structures.  It was built between 2600 to 2500 B.C.

The Giza Pyramid is located in the southwest corner of the above image, just below the green area. The green color is because of the vegetation mainly north of the pyramids. The Nile River is along the right side of this Google Earth image.

An enlarged Google Earth image showing "The Great Pyramid" is the dark brown structure near top of this image. Another pyramid (lighter brown colors) is located to the lower left. The much smaller structure located southeast of the pyramids [i.e., in the far right corner of this image] is the Sphinx, which is enlarged in the next figure.

The Sphinx is another of the world’s largest sculptures (carved from stones brought to the site). The Sphinx is  240 feet long (73) and 66 feet (20 m) high. It is a reclining mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. It faces east toward the Nile River. This sculpture has the face of possibly Pharaoh Khafe; it is difficult to be certain because the face of Sphinx was partially defaced long ago.

note: In reality, The Sphinx is facing east, but via the software available with Google Earth, I was able to "turn it" 90 degrees to the south; so that you can view The Sphinx "head on."  

Both the pyramids and The Sphinx  were constructed from blocks removed from exposures of the nearby 40-45 million-year-old nummulitic (giant-sized single-cell foraminifera) marine limestone of the of the late Luetian to Bartonian, middle Eocene Mokattam Formation. Nummulites are very large [up to 30 mm in diameter!] single-cell foraminifera (see my previous blog June 6, 2014) for images of nummulites). Other fossils found in this limestome include sea cows (sirerians), early whales [Protocetus], bony fish, sharks, reptiles and mammals (see Wikipedia).

                                THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

"Shifting shift gears abit": The following images are Google Earth Images that show The Great Wall of China, which is a World Heritage Site, which was built continuously from the 3^rd century B.C. to the 17^th Century AD. Its total length is about 22,000 km (greater than 4,000 miles!). It would take approximately 18 months to walk its length.  It is the largest man-made project in the world. It stretches from its eastern Pacific Sea side to the west desert, and crosses mountains and plateaus. It is not a single-structural wall but a series of towers, barriers, and fortresses along the walls. It is generally between 5 to 8 m tall and 16 to 26 feet between the walls. The materials are from local sources (uncut stones, wood, and earth). It took greater than 2,000 yrs. to construct.

 

The wall was constructed as a military defense; namely, to prevent invaders from the north (Mongolia) and from the east (The Koreas).

                            Fig. 1 Map of the Great Wall of China.

                 Fig. 2. A long-view of the Great Wall.

                 Fig. 3. A closer view of the Great Wall.