Graham Hancock on archaeology: what the evidence says · JRE #2051

FACT CHECK // JRE #2051 // EXHIBIT LOG
EPISODE AIRED OCT 25, 2023 · THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE
CLAIM CMRI9479STATUS: PUBLISHED
SUBJECT: ARCHAEOLOGY
Timestamp1:03:25
Aired
RulingNeeds Context

Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.

// THE CLAIM · ON TAPE
the Sphinx 12,500 years ago was gazing at dawn on the spring equinox at the constellation of Leo. In other words, this lion monument on the ground was looking at its own celestial counterpart in the sky.
Graham Hancock@ 1:03:25
Watch on YouTubeJUMP TO 1:03:25

What the evidence says 01 / RECORD

Mainstream Egyptology dates the Great Sphinx to the reign of Pharaoh Khafre, roughly 4,500 years ago (circa 2500 BCE), based on archaeological and stylistic evidence at the Giza site. Hancock's Leo-alignment argument, part of a broader case (alongside Robert Schoch's water-erosion hypothesis) for redating the Sphinx to around 10,500 BCE, has not been accepted by Egyptologists, who maintain there is no evidence the ancient Egyptians recognized the constellation Leo. This fact-check could not locate an allowlisted source that directly analyzes or rebuts the specific archaeoastronomical Leo-alignment claim; the available allowlisted evidence instead confirms the conventional ~4,500-year, Khafre-era dating that Hancock's claim disputes.

/// factcheckjoerogan.com