<< Feature Articles >> The Enigmatic Cursus
Submitted by Thorgrim on Saturday, 23 April 2005 Page Views: 13660
Neolithic and Bronze AgeType: CursusInternal Links:
Cursus monuments date from about 3800 BC and are among the earliest earthworks in the Neolithic landscape and perhaps the most mysterious. The term “cursus” was chosen by the old time antiquarians because they thought that they were ancient racecourses - presumably for Celtic chariot races! That idea has been discounted, but we still don’t know why they were constructed. What are they? The simple answer is that they consist of two parallel ditches with internal banks running for varying distances over the land. High banks seem to be the significant feature with the ditches being dug to obtain the earth or chalk. They are long and narrow and the length can vary from 100 yards to more than the six miles of the Dorset cursus which is actually two cursus laid end to end (cursus is the plural as well as the singular). Near Stonehenge, the cursus is 1.7 miles long, but only 140 yards wide. Some terminate in a rounded or square cut ditch while others are open ended – the Stonehenge cursus terminates in a false long barrow at its eastern end! Yes – but what are they?
Ritual
Before we can try to understand what they are, it may be useful to determine what they are not. Clearly they are not defensive – there is nothing warlike about the shallow ditches and banks and no sign of timber palisades. They are not defensive dykes as they are not high enough and do not protect boundaries such as the much later Saxon dykes of East Anglia and Wessex. There does not appear to be any convincing indication of astronomical alignments or orientation towards solstice sunrise or setting. They do not appear to be cattle pounds or domestic enclosures and so we are left with the old chestnut – ritual. They are associated with long barrows and with no fewer than six at the Dorset cursus. There is a cluster of round barrows at the southern end of the Rudston cursus in Yorkshire and at Dorchester-on-Thames there are three mortuary enclosures. In Chelmsford (Essex), the Springfield cursus had a timber circle at the eastern end and traces of fire with pits of burnt animal bones and pebbles have been found. Some cursus were constructed over chalk and we must visualise two shining white ditches striding over the countryside, but others are on gravel and seem to point towards or terminate at wet sites – either bogs or open water.
Ancestors
Until aerial photography was more common, cursus were difficult to see and it was thought that they were limited to England. The Penguin Archaeology Guide (2001) still states that cursus are Neolithic ritual monuments restricted to southern and eastern England. This is no longer true as they are found in Ireland too and during the 1980s they were discovered in Scotland with a current Scottish total of 43. They do seem to be restricted to Britain and Ireland and English Heritage gives the current number for England as 101. Some idea of chronological perspective and changing values can be gained when it is realised that the central henge at Thornborough was not built until the cursus ditches there had silted up! Frances Pryor excavated the Maxey cursus near Peterborough and found that it cut a diagonal swathe across a low gravel island in the flood plain of the river Welland. It begins at the Etton causewayed enclosure and ends at the Great Henge of Maxey. Does this give us an insight into its purpose? Pryor suggests that the cursus was a transitional route taking the ceremonial activities of Etton to a replacement site at the Great Henge. Elsewhere, he explores his recurring theme of a ritual landscape, liminal space and the progression from life to death. He suggests that the Amesbury cursus near Stonehenge was a processional route for Ancestral Initiates moving from the Domain of the Living towards the Domain of the Ancestors. (Britain BC).
Tree Throws
Other notions include the idea of a symbolic river and if we discount the view that cursus were constructed as runways for flying saucers, should we also dismiss the suggestion that they were astronomical observatories? This concept puts forward the idea that a long, narrow cursus was built as an artificial horizon in flat country. Viewed from a fixed point some distance to one side, timber stakes could be used to mark the limits of moon rise and setting throughout the long cycle. Similarly, the rise and setting of the sun and significant stars could be marked. This theory has some credibility when we consider the shorter cursus of 100 yards or so – but over the six miles of the Dorset cursus? Then there is the matter of associated tree throws. When a large tree is blown down in a storm, the roots are uplifted with a plug of soil leaving a great hole. This is quite common, particularly on shallow soils such as chalk and gravel. Evidence of tree throw holes has been found at some cursus and at Springfield (Chelmsford) the south ditch deviates from a straight line and aligns with a pit that is very possibly a tree throw. Another similar pit is enclosed in the eastern terminal and the same sort of thing seems to be going on at other cursus such as those at Ashton-on-Trent, Drayton in Oxfordshire and Barford in Warwickshire. Terence Meaden has suggested that these fallen and uprooted trees might actually be the reason why cursus were constructed. He considers the possibility that the cursus actually marked the path of Neolithic tornadoes! However, we must also consider the possibility that certain trees may have been uprooted by man. The inverted tree at the later Seahenge springs to mind with the associated idea of it being planted upside down so that its branches could grow into the underworld. In either case, perhaps the hole torn in the earth was seen as a portal to a spirit realm.
What do you think?
Traces of these very early and massive Neolithic constructions are not easy to photograph. In addition to Jim’s super coverage of the Dorset cursus, we have photos of the one at Stonehenge and the re-construction at Heathrow. So the challenge is to get out there, find and photograph some of the others (see Pastscape for locations) and above all – consider what on earth they really are!
Further reading:
Jim Champion’s brilliant photo essay for the Portal on the Dorset Cursus
Frances Pryor - Britain BC, HarperCollins 2003
Michael Haigh in Northern Earth discusses tree throws.
Excavations at a Neolithic Cursus, Springfield, Essex, 1979-85'. D G Buckley, J D Hedges & N Brown. Prehistoric Society