[Original 1931 text] "To have cleared these remains completely or even to the extent of recovering the main lines of their plans would have meant dismantling the Buddhist buildings above them, and, as ther were obvious objections to removing such interesting landmarks, I confined myself to sinking three trenches inside the stupa courtyard, each as broad and deep as the restricted area would permit, and a still deeper one (40 feet measured from beneath the earliest Buddhist pavement) outside the north wall of the monastery at a point where natural erosion in the side of the mound facilitated the task of clearing the lower levels [above]." (Marshall, Vol. I, p. 124)
