<P> In architecture, a post-and - lintel or trabeated system refers to the use of horizontal beams or lintels which are borne up by columns or posts . The name is from the Latin trabs, beam; influenced by trabeatus, clothed in the trabea, a ritual garment . </P> <P> A noteworthy example of a trabeated system is in Volubilis, from the Roman era, where one side of the Decumanus Maximus is lined with trabeated elements, while the opposite side of the roadway is designed in arched style . </P> <P> In India the style was used originally for wooden construction, but later the technique was adopted for stone structures for decorated load - bearing and purely ornamented non-structural purposes . </P> <P> Post and lintel construction is one of four ancient structural methods of building, the others being the corbel, arch - and - vault, and truss . </P>

Stonehenge is an example of an arch construction