text: My first reason is the fact that there are similar landforms like it on Earth and Mars. Such as mesas in the American west. One specific mesa is the Middle Butte in the Snake River Plain of Idaho. There is also several other landforms like it on Mars. The passage states that "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."