What Lies Beneath

Hindus and Muslims continue to fight and die for a 1.1-hectare piece of real estate in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya. This struggle has gone on for centuries, with both sides claiming the site as sacred ground. But now an Indian court is trying to combine archaeology with technology to settle the dispute. Following a court order, government archaeologists last week began probing the dusty parcel with a ground-penetrating-radar magnometer capable of detecting a buried foundation and other subsurface ruins. Hindus hope the machine will bolster their claim that an ancient temple marking the birthplace of the god Ram once...