ABSTRACT
In Europe, there has been a misunderstanding or even incorrect education that gives the impression that once the Romans departed, then the Dark Ages brought nothing but destruction and decay of Roman buildings. The age of stones was determined by hitting with a hammer and categorised as ‘child’, ‘young’ or ‘old’ with only the ‘young’ stones that sounded like a bell when hit, being used for construction. Ancient Hindu texts describe various building material techniques for quality control. The specific area of guild quality standards is likely to have impacted upon building since craftspeople were engaged as contractors on specific parts of building construction, such as decorating interiors. Master masons acting as architects, structural engineers, construction managers and quantity surveyors were the quality control inspectors, paid on the amount of approved work that was completed to the required standard. The architecture of the city of some 200 structures flows around the rocky landscape, 2,420 metres above sea level, using terracing.
