The possibility of a second sphinx in Egypt has sparked renewed debate after new footage revealed dozens of deep shafts surrounding a mysterious mound at Giza.

The video documented more than 100 shafts clustered around the site in the northwest corner of the plateau, near the western cemetery of Giza, a region historically filled with burial shafts and ancient tomb complexes.

The renewed interest follows claims by researcher Filippo Biondi last week that scans detected a large anomaly deep beneath the mound, which he believes may be a long-lost sphinx.

The footage, released by independent researcher Trevor Grassi of the Archaeological Rescue Foundation, captured dozens of square shafts carved into bedrock, many reportedly extending deep underground but filled primarily with sand.

Grassi, who has spent nearly two decades researching Giza, said the video shows him physically walking along the perimeter of the mound, passing shaft after shaft cut directly into the limestone, some only about three feet across, while others measure roughly eight feet wide.

He said the unusually dense concentration of shafts surrounding the mound raises new questions about what may lie beneath the surface.

The footage is among the first to document the full perimeter of the site, offering what supporters of a second sphinx described as critical context for the ongoing debate.

While no definitive proof of a second sphinx has been discovered, researchers say the location warrants further investigation, given the number of openings and the underground anomaly previously detected at the site.

In the video, the camera follows a walking path along the northern edge of the mound, revealing what Grassi described as 'endless shafts all over the place going straight down, all blocked with sand.'

Grassi emphasized that many of the shafts seen in the footage appear to extend more than 100 feet underground, noting that he had personally lowered equipment into several openings to measure their depth.

Biondi took the world by storm last week during his appearance on the Matt Beall Limitless podcast, where he claimed to have scanned a mound of solidified sand on the surface, which he believes sits above the proposed second sphinx.

Using satellite radar technology capable of detecting subtle ground vibrations, Biondi said the data points to a massive structure concealed beneath a 180-foot-high mound of hardened sand, which he described as composed of solidified sand rather than natural bedrock.

Preliminary scans show vertical shafts and passageways strikingly similar to those already found beneath the original Sphinx, with dense vertical lines believed to represent the solid walls of underground shafts rather than empty voids.

'We are very confident to announce this… we have a confidence of about 80 percent,' said Biondi.

However, Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former minister of antiquities, has dismissed similar claims in the past, saying the areas around the pyramids and the Sphinx have been extensively studied and excavated over decades without uncovering evidence of a second monument. 

Grassi spent 12 years studying under independent researcher John Anthony West, who helped popularize the controversial theory that erosion patterns on the Great Sphinx were caused by ancient rainfall, suggesting the monument could be thousands of years older than traditionally believed.

He first traveled to Egypt in 2018, joining geologist Robert Schoch, who worked alongside West on the erosion theory, and he is now investigating Biondi's claims.

'You've got a hundred of them within 100 meters [328 feet] right there,' Grassi said in the footage, arguing that such a concentration makes it unlikely they are isolated burial chambers. 

Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former minister of antiquities, has dismissed similar claims, saying the areas around the pyramids and the Sphinx have been extensively studied for decades without revealing evidence of a second monument. 

The theory of a second Sphinx at Giza is not new, as Egyptologist Bassam El Shammaa first proposed the idea in 2007, based on ancient pyramid texts, including the Dream Stele that Biondi also used to state his case.

The Dream Stele, positioned between the paws of the Great Sphinx, appears to depict two sphinx figures.

'If you look at all the temples, if you look at all the architecture and the way that everything in Egypt is set up, there are always two obelisks,' said Grassi in a YouTube video.

'There are always two statues. There are always two sphinxes. There's always a perfect balance. 

'There are always the two brain hemispheres, the two rising sun and setting sun. Everything is balanced in Egypt, and this is central as a tenet of the Egyptian religion.' 

The mound itself is positioned along what researchers describe as a mirrored alignment across the plateau, extending from the known Sphinx through a central axis between the two largest pyramids. 

The footage focuses heavily on the large number of shafts surrounding the mound. 

Many of the openings appear only a few feet across, while others are significantly wider and cut deep into the limestone bedrock. 

According to Grassi, many of the shafts are currently filled with sand deposited during earlier excavations. 

He argued that the sheer number of shafts packed tightly together suggests they may function as ventilation or access points for a larger underground network rather than isolated tombs.

'When you have this many shafts concentrated like this, it's really got to be light and ventilation shafts for a massive tunnel system,' he said.

Historical images referenced in the footage suggested the mound itself may not have existed before the early 20th century. 

Archival photographs from the 1900s appeared to show the area without the sand pile, indicating that it may have formed as a spoil heap, sand removed from nearby excavations and deposited in a central location.

Grassi argued that this detail strengthens the possibility that buried features could exist beneath the mound, since spoil piles sometimes accumulate above previously excavated areas. 

'All we have to do is pull some sand out of there, and we'll know if they connect straight into this,' he said, adding that clearing sand from existing shafts would be non-invasive and would not require drilling into the site.