The Foundation Platform
By the middle Neolithic period, the use of rammed earth and unbaked mud bricks was prevalent. Hangtu, the pounding of layers of earth to make walls, altars, and foundations remained an element of Chinese construction for the next several millennia. The Great Wall of China, built of Hangtu, was erected beginning in the first millennium BC. Sundried mud bricks and rammed mud walls were typically constructed within wood frames. Hard pounded earth floors were strengthened by heating.
Read more about this topic: Ancient Chinese Wooden Architecture
Famous quotes containing the words foundation and/or platform:
“Remember that whatever knowledge you do not solidly lay the foundation of before you are eighteen, you will never be master of while you breathe.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“It was a favor for which to be forever silent to be shown this vision. The earth beneath had become such a flitting thing of lights and shadows as the clouds had been before. It was not merely veiled to me, but it had passed away like the phantom of a shadow, skias onar, and this new platform was gained. As I had climbed above storm and cloud, so by successive days’ journeys I might reach the region of eternal day, beyond the tapering shadow of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)