[Casie]

I had to do a Wiki search to find the year, but it was the mooslems in the 1300’s that removed the white limestone that coated the pyramids. The stones were used to decorate mosques and even crushed to make roads. So really, this is nothing new at all. If not for Islam we would have pictures of smooth white pyramids and I believe the Sphinx would still have his nose.

[JimRed]

...I believe the Sphinx would still have his nose.

I heard that the nose damage is due to British gunners using it as target practice.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

The Romans looted the marble from the pyramids. Egyptians have been using the pyramids as stone quarries for at least 2000 years, and who can blame them? Huge piles of cut stone, imported from hundreds of miles away, they would cost hundreds of times more to get from stone quarries in Sudan.

[KevinDavis]

In all fairness, after the fall of the Roman empire, people from the Europe did the same thing..