the city was at one time divided 

 into wards or clan groups (see page 

 468). Each one of these groups 

 has but one entrance, a gateway 

 furnished with the means of being 

 solidly fastened on the inside. None 

 of the doors to houses or temples 

 have this locking device, but all the 

 entrances to the clan groups have it, 

 and the same device occurs in the 

 principal gate to the city. 



INGENIOUS BOLTING OF THE GATKS 

 TO THE CIvAN GROUPS 



The doors have disappeared, but 

 probably consisted of rough-hewn 

 logs of hard wood. They seem 

 to have been fastened by two bars 

 crossed at right angles. The up- 

 right bar was probably tied at the 

 top to a ring-stone set in the wall 

 and projecting from it above the 

 stone lintel of the doorway (see 

 page 465). It could have been fast- 

 ened at the bottom by being set into 

 a shallow hole in the ground. The 

 cross-bar was lashed to stone cyl- 

 inders about 6 inches high and 3 

 inches in diameter, set into lock- 

 holes in the door-posts (pp. 466-7). 



This ingenious device varies in 

 different groups, but in general the 

 principle is the same. The more 

 common method of making these 

 locks was to cut a hole out of the 

 top or corner of one of the larger 

 blocks in the door-posts and set the 

 stone cylinder into saucer-shaped 

 depressions below and above. Thus 

 the cylinder would be so firmly 

 keyed into the wall that it would 

 be able to resist at least as much 

 pressure as the hardwood cross-bar 

 which was lashed to it. 



Each one of the clan groups has 

 certain distinctive features. In one 

 of them, characterized by particu- 

 larly ingenious stone-cutting, the 

 lock-holes were cut in the center 

 of solid granite rectangular blocks 

 (see pages 470, 471). The picture 

 on page 471, taken after the top 

 block had been removed, shows the 

 saucer-shaped depression cut into 

 the upper stone. It also explains 

 how the ingenious architect had 

 carved the cylindrical block and the 



464 



