What Is This? A Wall For Ants?

Barley, a dog, sniffs along the base of a wall built so low to the ground that she could step over it.

Setting aside that low a wall can be a nice decorative touch, it amuses me to think that this wall almost certainly exists as a wall, a genuine barrier, despite its unimposing stature. The property to which it belongs is the last level surface before a hill begins that then descends steeply for what is eventually a 200 foot drop in altitude. This is not a wall that prevents the escape of children, or of pets, but of soil. Naturally, this makes it an ideal sort of wall for Barley: low enough to provide no real obstacle (and possibly even something to climb up onto), but tall enough to collect all manner of smellful clues.