Each of the three landing areas lead to long flights of steps (known as the east, south and north steps) built by the first generations of monks to inhabit the island. The steps may have at one time formed part of a larger network; traces of other, possibly earlier steps have been discovered elsewhere on the island.[29][30] The basal sections of the steps were initially rock-cut, giving way to more stable dry stone masonry once they reached an altitude where the sea waves would no longer weather them.