FOUNDATION
For such massive walls it is astonishing to find that the bottom courses of the foundation are not more than from 2 ft. to 3 ft. 6 in. below the present level of the ground immediately surrounding the building. The foundation has been examined at eighteen equi-distant points along the outer circumference, and in no single part does it rest on formation rock, the nearest proximity of which is at a further depth of 4 ft. on the north, 5 ft. on the west, 9 ft. on the south, and 4 ft. on the east. Nor are the bottom courses formed of large blocks, as is so frequently seen in foundations of other ruins, but blocks no larger than those in the upper courses have been employed almost without exception. Near (177 ft.) there is a step-up in the foundation westwards of 5 ft. 9 in. Near [625 ft.] there runs for a few feet a very narrow step-back in the three lowest courses of the foundation, but this is the only point in the circumference of the wall where this feature can be noticed.
The foundation bed upon which the wall is built is purely artificial. Evidently the ancient architects prepared a level surface for the wall, because there is only from 3 ft. to 5 ft. difference in the level of the foundations all round, notwithstanding that on the south-east the ground towards the “Valley of Ruins” and the temple which is erected on the edge of its slope commands the “Valley of Ruins.”
The surface of the prepared foundation consisted of fine cement, now decomposed[50] to firm dry sand. This cement is in places at least 3 ft. deep, is laid on the granite formation for 10 ft. and 15 ft. beyond the wall on both inside and outside the building, and later, when the lower courses of the foundation had been laid, a further flooring of cement was laid, making the side of the lower portion of the foundations at least 1 ft. 6 in., if not 2 ft. 6 in. deep.
The enormous amount of time and labour required to be expended merely in preparing the surface on which to erect the temple is bewildering to contemplate, and fairly rivals as a demonstration of patient labour, length of time of construction, and good workmanship the massive walls themselves. The decomposed cement, which has now become mere sand, was very finely ground, there being not the smallest splinter of granite in its composition. The cement being yellow suggests that the ancients, to save breaking up large pieces of stone, were content to collect small fragments of granite which had become decomposed, and therefore were easier to grind, for everywhere in this locality, especially in damp places and near any granite boulder or glacis, are to be found quantities of small granite chips all yellow with decomposition. Possibly granite sand from neighbouring streams might also have been utilised.