GUADALUPE, Calif. (AP) β Archaeologists working in the sand dunes along the Central California coast are digging up ancient sphinxes β but these are made of plaster.
The giant imitations of an ancient Egyptian scene were constructed more than 90 years ago for the silent black-and-white classic movie “The Ten Commandments.”
When filming was over, legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille left them there among the sands of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes in Santa Barbara County.
This week, archaeologists excavated a crumbling plaster sphinx from the ruins.
Another sphinx was partially exhumed in 2012 but money ran out.
When crews went back, that sphinx was too damaged to retrieve but they found another.
What can be removed will eventually be on display at the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center.
The center raised $120,000 for the most recent dig.
