Archaeologists have recently unearthed a suspiciously well - preserved sphinx statue immerse in the dusty gumption sand dune of … California . You do n’t have to be a world - course of study historiographer to have it away that the Ancient Egyptians were not particularly intimate with west - coast America .
Of naturally , this is no artefact from the ancient humanity . Instead , it ’s a souvenir from the history of Hollywood . TheDunes Centerarchaeologists , who lately made the discovery at the Guadalupe - Nipomo Dunes of California , believethis plaster - cast relic is a film airscrew from the 1923 dumb filmThe 10 commandment .
“ The piece is unlike anything see on premature digs , ” Doug Jenzen , Executive Director of the Dunes Center , said in astatement .
“ The majority of it is preserved by Baroness Dudevant with the original paint still entire . This is substantial and show that we ’re still pick up unexpected facets to shoot diachronic moving picture output such as thefact that objects in disastrous and bloodless films were in reality painted highly vivid color . ”
The Guadalupe - Nipomo Dunes , just south of San Francisco , were excellently the shooting location forThe 10 Commandmentsduring the 1920s . This former cinema epic by Cecil B DeMille told the Biblical tale of Moses leading the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land .
It was one the most expensive movies ever made at the time , costing $ 1.5 million to make ( well over $ 20 million in today ’s money ) . Much of this money went towards impressive set of the ancient Egyptian world featuring multi - story wooden tabernacle and dozens of statues depict sphinxes , gods , and pharoahs . The taradiddle die that the set was too expensive to move after motion-picture photography , yet DeMille was paranoid it would be foraged by rival filmmakers , so he had it buried . Sand allows water to drain out , meaning they did n’t " turn to pulp " , in the speech of Jenzen . As such , many of the 95 - year - old structures are in remarkably good stipulation .
In the 1980s , screenwriter Peter Brosnan and a radical of unseasoned filmmakers set up out to recover these artifacts of Hollywood history . Over the decennary they have been met with some success , finding inhibition - era pot likker bottles , makeup equipment , and tobacco tins .
It might not be your usual archeological find , but even this discovery is revealing some entrancing brainwave into the life of people from the past .
