Cursus

As Cursus ( pl. cursus, from Latin cursus: run, march route ) is called by the antiquarian William Stukeley narrow, extremely long, usually rectangular Neolithic earthworks in Britain. The plural form Cursuses used in English seems to have been first used by Osbert Crawford in 1937 and since then can be found in the literature.

History of Research

Commodore Clark Hall, 1922 was the first from an airplane attention to crop marks, which were later interpreted as Cursus. The number of known cursus has greatly increased mainly due to the results of aerial archeology, but also through an expanded definition. Number of development known Cursus:

Features

It is narrow, elongated rectangles (possibly at the ends rounded ), most of which consist of a revolving moat with accompanying walls inside the plants. The Wall itself is interrupted for a few passages. The length of these rectangles varies between 140 m and 9.8 km ( Dorset Cursus ). The width is, for example, the 3 km long from Stonehenge Cursus between 100 and 130 m, at 10 km long Dorset Cursus consistently 92 m.

Scottish plants have sometimes held ditch and a series of external postholes. The excavation in Dungarit - Cursus brought a number of pits to days that were up to 1.7 m deep, and 0.5 m in diameter. Other plants have in the middle of an elongated mound ( Heathrow). While most of ramparts and moats were leveled with the times, the Cleaven Dyke in Caputh near Blairgowrie and Rattray, Perth and Kinross on a length of 1.8 km is still relatively intact, only the end is out plowing. The average marks of Fimber Cursus in Yorkshire lie to the west away from each other 18-37 m. The total length of the Cursus is ( explored ) 1300 meters - almost the same as the Breeze Farm Cursus ( Cursus B) of Rudston though, as the ends of the Fimber Cursus are yet to discover their true length remains unclear.

Dissemination

Cursus come from the south of England before to the North East of Scotland and are usually only visible from the air. There are about 100 known buildings, not all of which have been scientifically studied. The most popular are Dorset, Maxley, Milfield, Rudstone and the Cursus at Stonehenge.

Formation

Cursus emerged in the Neolithic period ( about 3100 BC).

Interpretation

Stukely believed that the Cursus were Romans racetracks. The long bed at the end of the Stonehenge Cursus, he interpreted as a judge stands. Meanwhile, the cursus are usually regarded as causeways. Only a few have been excavated, including the Dorchester Cursus, the 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 usually limited antler hoes least allow a 14C - dating.

Examples

• The Stonehenge Cursus - is between a long bed ( Long Barrow ) in the east and a round grave hills in the west. To the south lies a grave mound group, which is called the Cursus Barrows -.
• The Borough of Thor is superimposed by a henge and is located in the neighborhood of two other similar facilities.