Rudstone Cursus Monuments

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The Rudstone Cursus Monuments are functionally enigmatic, long, mostly straight, rectangular prehistoric ramparts and moat structures near Rudston in East Yorkshire in England . Cursus (plur. Cursūs), from Latin cursus , means running or marching route. The plural form of cursuses has been found in English literature since 1937.

The area around Rudston with the menhir in the center must have been a religious center in prehistoric times and its importance is compared to Kilmartin or Avebury . A cluster of four, possibly five Cursūs converges in a bend in the Great Wold Valley.

description

Cursus A, the "Beacon Cursus", with a curved kink is unique in shape. Cursus A is the southernmost of the group. The southern end of the course survived as earthworks and the rest is visible in aerial photographs as parallel trenches. The course is 2700 meters long and about 58 meters wide. It tapers to 41 meters at the south end. Cursus A is the only one in the group that has both ends preserved. They show a square floor plan.

Cursus B is the “Brezze Farm Cursus”; Cursus C, the “Glebe Farm Cursus”, and Cursus D, the “Argham Cursus”, are the longest and cross (with B this is not certain because of the overbuilding of the end) the Gypsey Race, which is over 4 km long Cursus D even twice. The Gypsey Race is a 25 km long, intermittent river that flows through the chalk landscape of the Great Wold Valley. It runs both above and below ground, suddenly changes direction or disappears for a few years.

Alistair J. Barclay and Alex Bayliss submitted C14 data for the cursuses and their construction dates back to the second half of the 4th millennium BC. BC (about 3100 BC) classified.

literature

  • Henry P. Chapman: Rudston 'Cursus A'– Engaging with a Neolithic Monument in Its Landscape Setting Using GIS.
  • DP Dymond: Ritual Monuments at Rudston, E. Yorkshire, England. In: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, Volume 32, 1966.
  • Nigel Pennick, Paul Devereux: Lines on the Landscape. Hale, London 1989.

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