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From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for September 24, 1996: Egyptology - Caroline Davies

September 24, 1996: Egyptology - Caroline Davies

Sep 24, 1996
1h 17m
0:00 / 0:00
Photographer and documentarian Caroline Davies joins Art Bell for a late-night conversation about the mysteries of the Giza Plateau, drawing on her years of fieldwork with geologist Robert Schoch and researcher John Anthony West on the NBC documentary Mystery of the Sphinx. Davies describes the geological evidence suggesting the Sphinx is thousands of years older than mainstream Egyptology acknowledges, with deep weathering fissures that could only have been caused by prolonged rainfall in an era predating dynastic Egypt by millennia.

The discussion takes a deeply personal turn as Davies recounts her transformative experiences inside the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid. She describes a paralysis-like state while lying on the chamber floor, accompanied by visions of an all-seeing eye that has followed her work ever since. She shares accounts of hardened individuals emerging from the pyramid in tears, their personalities visibly altered, and a young man whose overnight stay alone inside produced a terrifying experience that permanently changed his character for the better.

Art reveals his plans to visit the pyramids on the upcoming 1997 cruise and presses Davies on the connection between Giza, the face on Mars, and extraterrestrial origins. Davies leans toward Zechariah Sitchin's Anunnaki theory while acknowledging the question remains wide open.

Key Moments

  1. Mystery of the Sphinx - Schoch and West redating, 7,000–9,000 BC: Davies describes her work on the NBC documentary 'Mystery of the Sphinx' (aired 1993, rebroadcast 1994) with John Anthony West and Boston University geologist Robert Schoch, whose geological evidence dates the Sphinx's construction to roughly 7,000–9,000 BC, with Davies personally suspecting an even earlier date.

  2. Inside the King's Chamber - Davies's recurring paralysis and the Eye: Davies describes spending hours alone and in small groups inside the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid: lying on her back at the chamber's center, her body would become unable to move, and whether her eyes were open or closed she would consistently see 'that famous eye that we always associate with the pyramid.'

  3. Robert Bauval's 'freaked out' phone call - dramatic news coming: Art recounts a recent phone call from Robert Bauval in London in which Bauval, normally measured, sounded freaked out about dramatic upcoming news on the Sphinx and pyramids that he wouldn't disclose. Davies hadn't heard either, and they speculate it's being saved for an upcoming weekend symposium with Bauval and Graham Hancock.