There are many indications leading to the conclusion that the present outer wall of the Haram is the old boundary of the Temple Hill. In the south-west corner we have the remains of the great bridge which Josephus so often mentions. The south wall is trisected by the line of the two underground portals, answering to the two Huldah or "Mole-gatesâ of the Temple. Captain Warren's excavations have also shown us that the south wall is probably all of one date and in one piece, with a "Master Courseâ six feet high, except near the west, where, for over 200 feet, this feature is wanting, and where the stones below the original surface existing at the time of the great bridge are less finished, being probably never visible. In the south-east corner, where the stones are smoothly finished down to the rock, are the Phoenician mason's marks, denoting the courses; and from this corner to the Golden Gate the masonry is apparently of the same character. The junction of the Ophel wall at the south-east corner serves to identify this angle of the Haram, with the corresponding angle of Herod's Temple enclosure. The west wall has been examined for nearly half its length, and proves to be of the same style as that on the south-east. Finally, in 1873, I found the same masonry, in the north corner of the west wall, reaching up to a higher level than that at which it was previously known in any other part of the Haram, and founded on rock. The natural conclusion is that all this beautiful and gigantic masonry is of one period, and formed one area. The question is, to what period does it belong?
I may, perhaps, insist upon an indication of date connected with the dressing of the stones, which I have never seen brought to bear on the question. Drafted masonry, imitating that on these walls, was used by Byzantine builders and by Crusading masons; but they never dressed their stones in the manner in which those of the Temple are dressed. This is distinctive and unique. It consists of a careful cross-chiselling, on the draft, and for a depth of three inches round the margin of the raised part of the stone--a regular "criss-crossâ pattern, never found in the later masonry. This dressing also occurs _on the stones of the voussoirs of the great Tyropæon bridge_, an indication which I have never seen noticed before. The bridge and the wall then are, to all appearance, of one period; the lower courses of the wall are proved, by excavation, to be _in situ_, and thus the existing line must, I conclude, be referred to the time of the bridge. No one has disputed as to when this bridge was built. Captain Warren has shown that an older arch fell, and a pavement was made over it, before the present ruined bridge was built; thus the present arch is generally thought to be not earlier than Herod's time; and hence the Haram wall is attributable, according to the indications obtained from its masonry (as was long ago pointed out by the Comte de Vogüé, arguing from different premises), to the time when Herod rebuilt the work of Solomon, doubling the area enclosed (Wars. i. 21, 1), and in part, if not altogether, "took away the old foundationsâ (Ant. xv. 11, 3).