“Everything is speculative and even scholars frequently disagree. While we know about the pre-industrial use of manpower, oxen and ramps, the engineers I’ve spoken with have differing opinions about how stepwells were constructed. They do, however, agree that building down into the earth is subject to more stress than building above ground, and is therefore more challenging,” says Lautman.
Henry Cousens - British engineer and surveyor of Gujarat said, his workmen had difficulty understanding the buildings, but because the names listed in the progress reports suggest his staff were India, the building tradition may already have partly forgotten by 1905.
