Cursus

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As Cursus (plur Cursus, of. Latin cursus : Run, roadmap) refers to the antiquarian William Stukeley (1687-1765) narrow, extremely long, usually rectangular Neolithic earthworks in the UK . The plural form cursuses used in English seems to have been used first by Osbert Crawford (1886–1957) in 1937 and has since been found in specialist literature. They resemble trenches near the surface and have lengths of up to 9.7 km. The distance between the parallel earthworks that form the cursus can be up to 91.0 m. Over 50 have been identified through aerial photography, while many others have been wiped out by farming and other landscaping.

Stonehenge course, look into the ditch. The gap in the forest marks the further course of the course
The course of the Dorset Cursus at Wyke down - marked in the area

Research history

Commodore Clark Hall, was the first to become aware of vegetation marks from an airplane in 1922, which were later interpreted as cursus. The number of known courses has risen sharply , primarily due to the results of aerial photography archeology , but also due to an expanded definition. Number development of the known courses:

year well-known courses
1740 3
1934 2
1960 15th
1964 19th
1978 29
1984 45
2006 +100

features

These are narrow, elongated rectangles (possibly rounded at the ends), which usually consist of surrounding walls and external trenches. The wall is interrupted for a few passages. Over 30 similar monuments with lines of pits or post holes instead of ramparts and ditches have so far been largely confined to Scotland . The excavation in the Dungarit -Course in Scotland uncovered a number of pits that were up to 1.7 m deep and 0.5 m in diameter. The Scottish have lengths between 60 and over 2000 m and widths between 25 and 100 m. Only the Cleaven Dyke in Perth and Kinross is still visible today.

Other systems have an elongated mound of earth ( Heathrow ) in the middle . While most of the ramparts and trenches have been leveled over time, the Cleaven Dyke in Caputh near Blairgowrie and Rattray in Perth and Kinross is still relatively intact over a length of about 1.8 km, only the end has been plowed. The length of these rectangles varies between 140 m and 9.8 km ( Dorset -cursus). The width is z. B. on the 3 km long Stonehenge course between 100 and 130 m, on the 10 km long Dorset course 92 m throughout. The cut marks of the Fimber Cursus in Yorkshire are between 18 and 37 m apart to the west. The total length of the course is (explored) 1300 m - almost the same as in one of the Rudstone Cursus monuments, the "Breeze Farm Cursus" (Cursus B), whose ends, like those of the Fimber Cursus, can still be discovered, so their true length remains unclear.

length width Loveday guy
up to 150 m 25-30 m Long mortuary enclosures
180-800 m 25-30 m cursiform long enclosure
180-800 m significantly more than 30 m small cursus
1-2 km 40-100 m great course
2.7-5.5 km - Mega courses
Cleaven Dyke, Perthshire, Wall. The gap in the forest marks the further course of the course

distribution

Cursus occur from the south of England to the north-east of Scotland and can mostly only be seen from the air. About 100 buildings are known, not all of which have been scientifically investigated. The best known include Dorset, Maxley, Milfield, Rudstone and the Cursus at Stonehenge .

Dating

A number of recent radiocarbon dates in the Scottish Lowlands suggest that Cursus monuments with posts and pits are usually older than the more well-known wall and moat structures of England. They are between 4000 and 3600 BC. While for the English cursuses dates from around 3100 BC. Were determined.

interpretation

Stukely believed that the Cursūs were Roman racetracks . He interpreted the long bed at the end of the Stonehenge course as a judge's platform. The Cursūs are now mostly viewed as processional routes. Few have been excavated, including the Dorchester Cursus, Lesser-Stonehenge Cursus, Heathrow (Stanwell), Scorton and Thornborough Cursus in North Yorkshire. Artifacts in the primary filling layers of the trenches are rare and are mostly limited to antler hooks , which at least allow 14 C dating .

Examples

  • The Stonehenge course lies between a long barrow in the east and a round burial mound in the west. To the south lies a group of burial mounds called the Cursus Barrows.
  • That of Thornborough is overlaid by a henge and is in the vicinity of two other similar systems.

literature

  • A. Barclay, G. Lambrick, J. Moore & M. Robinson: Lines in the Landscape: Cursus monuments in the Upper Thames Valley . Oxford: Oxford Archeology, Thames Valley landscapes monograph 15, 2003.
  • Kenneth Brophy: The cursus monuments of Scotland. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow. 1999
  • Roy Loveday, Inscribed across the Landscape: The Cursus Monuments of Great Britain. Stroud, Tempus 2006.
  • Gordon J. Barclay & Gordon S. Maxwell, The Cleaven Dyke and Littleour: Monuments in the Neolithic of Tayside. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 1998 (Monograph series / Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 13).

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