95-year-old Sphinx statue from the movie The Ten Commandments

95-year-old Sphinx statue from 

the movie The Ten Commandments

Dating back to around 1923 a significant discovery was made at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Sand Dunes Conservation Center which continues to preserve the site A 95-year-old sphinx statue was unearthed from the set of the film The Ten Commandments Even the painted stucco sphinx is surprisingly well-preserved suggesting it was part of a set dating back approximately 94-95 years the film featured a massive ancient Egyptian set for his 1923 movie including a 12-story building and numerous sphinxes this newly discovered 5.5-foot-tall terracotta sphinx is largely preserved within the sand with its original colors largely intact

 Sphinx statue from  the movie The Ten Commandments / image credit : Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center

The giant sphinx buried in the Guadalupe-Nipomo sand dunes in California, was remarkably well-preserved after filming with its thematic structure likely painted to make the sphinx stand out Modern archaeologists periodically unearth fragments of this film prop the 300-pound Sphinx head was constructed as part of the set for the film The Ten Commandments recreating the biblical story of Exodus with modern elements

The set for Exodus was massive featuring statues of pharaohs the Sphinx and colossal temple doors that were 12 stories high and 800 feet wide in the 1990s excavators successfully discovered everyday artifacts from the filming after filming was completed DeMille ordered the large wooden structures to be buried in the sand to prevent rival filmmakers from reusing them the film was shot on location in Egypt including the Sinai Mountains and the Sinai Peninsula, with the largest exterior set ever built for a film depicting the life of Moses who became the liberator of his enslaved Hebrew brethren and subsequently led them to the Exodus to Mount Sinai