[SunkenCiv]

Rainer Stadelmann has worked on the plateau for years, and his view is that Khufu (Khafre's daddy) built the Sphinx. That's a nice dodge, because it fits what little pharaonic documentation survives, and there's only one known portrait of Khufu (it's about three inches tall, a seated figure). Other Egyptologists persist in their unfounded, baseless belief (which originated in modern times) that Khafre built the Sphinx.

[Marius3188]

Hah...is that Zahi Hawass is dictating these days?

[muawiyah]

The Sphinx consists of two parts, not one. The first part is the head ~ this piece of limestone was there before the second part, which is the body, was "carved" out of rock left behind as other rock was cut into cubes for use in a pyramid.

Given that the head looks remarkably like a mushroom, I can give you several reasons why the ancient Egyptians "saved it".