text: This Egyptian face was, in fact, not made by aliens like many have believed. The "Face of Mars" is actually a lava dome that formed like a butte/mesa roughly the same height as Mar's surface. A butte ot mesa is a landform that is common around the American West. "Scientists figured it was just another Martian mesa, common enough around Cydonia, only this one had unusual shadows that made it look like an Egyptian Pharaoh." (p.2) Therefore the "face" we see is shadows casting over the butte/mesa shaped lava dome creating the image of a human face. "It reminds me most of Middle Butte in the Snake River Plain of Idaho. That's a lava dome that takes the form of an isolated mesa about the same height as the Face on Mars," says Garvin. (p.12)