Curriestanes cursus () is a large

neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

ditched enclosure on the outskirts of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

, in the parish of

Troqueer Troqueer is a former village and a parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway on the west side of the River Nith. The eastern-side was merged with Dumfries to the east in 1929, and today eastern Troqueer is a sub ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

. It is visible only from

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircra ...

. It is, along with

Pict's Knowe Pict's Knowe () is a henge monument in the parish of Troqueer, Dumfries and Galloway. It is one of a small group of henge monuments around Dumfries which includes Broadlea henge near Annan. Pict's Knowe is located 4 km SW of Dumfries on a ...

, one of two

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

s in

parish.

Description

Curriestanes is an earthwork

cursus 250px, Stonehenge Cursus, Wiltshire 250px, Dorset Cursus terminal on Thickthorn Down, Dorset Cursuses are monumental Neolithic structures resembling ditches or trenches in the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. Relics found within them i ...

. While familiar from cursus sites in England, these types of monuments are less common than timber cursuses in Scotland. Less than fifteen monuments of this type have been found in Scotland and only five including Curriestanes have been excavated. Curriestanes is rare in having an entrance gap in one of its terminals, a feature known from only a handful of sites in the UK. The cursus is particularly wide at 100m, with a known area of at least three hectares. Only 3 other cursus monuments in Scotland are wider: East Linton, Brioch and Monktonhill. The ditches are irregular and do not appear to be have been intended to be exactly straight which suggests that they may been built in short segments. The ditches are wide, 7m, and shallow, no deeper than 0.6m.

Context

Unlike England, where cursus monuments have been known and studied for hundreds of years, the study of cursus monuments is a recent phenomenon. Before 1976, when

RCAHMS The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that was "sponsored" inanced and with oversightthrough Historic Scotland, an executive ...

began its aerial photography programme, only one definite cursus site was known in Scotland: Gallaberry in Dumfreis and Galloway. Over 50 Scottish sites have now been identified. These are found in two main geographical concentrations, in lowland

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * An ...

and

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

and another in Dumfries and Galloway, for the most part in and around the Nith valley. Curriestanes is one of twelve such monuments in Dumfries and Galloway. 200m to the south of the terminal of the monument, there is a ring-ditch, also only visible as a

cropmark Cropmarks or crop marks are a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform. Such marks, along with parch marks, soil marks a ...

.{{Cite book, title=Place and Memory: Excavations at The Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm, Dumfries and Galloway, 1994-8, last=Brophy, first=Kenneth, publisher=Oxbow Books, year=2007, isbn=978-1-84217-247-6, editor-last=Thomas, editor-first=Julian, editor-link=Julian Thomas, location=Oxford, pages=162, chapter=The cursus monuments of south-west Scotland

References

Archaeological sites in Dumfries and Galloway Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Dumfries and Galloway Linear earthworks