The Dorset Cursus is a
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 ...
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 in ...
monument that spans across 10 km (6¼ miles) of the chalk
downland
Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...
of
Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The area is dominated by, ...
in east
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. Its extreme length makes it a notable example of this class of
linear earthwork
In archaeology, a linear earthwork is a long bank of earth, sometimes with a ditch alongside. There may also be a palisade along the top of the bank. Linear earthworks may have a ditch alongside which provides the source of earth for the bank and ...
; it is better interpreted as a pair of same-length cursus constructed end to end, with the more southerly cursus (the Gussage Cursus) pre-dating the northerly one (the Pentridge Cursus).
Context
Very little remains above ground of the Dorset Cursus, which once stretched for 10 km (6¼ miles) through the undulating chalkland of
Cranborne Chase
Cranborne Chase () is an area of central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is part of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The area is dominated by, ...
in east
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
, from Martin Down to Thickthorn Down (both near the
A354 road
The A354 is a primary route in England which runs from Salisbury in Wiltshire to Easton on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, a total distance of . From Salisbury the road crosses Cranborne Chase. At Woodyates the road follows the route of Acklin ...
). It is by far the largest example of this class of ancient monument: it is over three times longer than the archetypical
Great Cursus near
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...
. Most of the current knowledge about the course of this ancient earthwork comes 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 ...
(where its course can be seen as
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 an ...
s or
soil mark
Soil marks are differences in soil colour as a result of archaeological features. They can be seen when a ploughed-out earthwork has left hard dry material of a former bank and damper wetter material from a former ditch. They can also occur when ...
s) and other
geophysical surveying techniques. However, there are a few locations (mentioned below) where the banks, much reduced in size, are still visible; the best-preserved earthworks are those of the southwestern terminal on Thickthorn Down ().
The Cursus dates from 3300
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
which makes it contemporary with the earthen
long barrow
Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...
s on Cranborne Chase: many of these are found near, on, or within the Cursus and since they are still in existence they help trace the Cursus' course in the modern landscape. The relationship between the Cursus and the alignment of these barrows suggests that they had a common
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...
significance to the Neolithic people who spent an estimated 0.5 million worker-hours in its construction.
Physical details
The Cursus consisted of a pair of parallel banks (1.5 m tall) running about 82 m apart, with external ditches 1.5 m deep and 2 m wide. One bank is regular, whilst the other meanders, suggesting that the former was laid out first and the latter was dug using the former as a reference. The remains of these banks are still visible within Salisbury Plantation on Oakley Down, where a long barrow is built into the northwest bank (). A 250 m length of the south-east bank remains on the northeast-facing slope of Bottlebush Down (, at right angles to the
B3081 road). These banks were linked together by cross-banks at the terminals; of these only the southwestern terminal bank on
Thickthorn Down
The Thickthorn Down Long Barrows are two Neolithic long barrows, near the village of Gussage St Michael in Dorset, England. They are near the south-western end of the Dorset Cursus, a Neolithic feature. The long barrows are a scheduled monument.
...
remains (), the north-eastern terminal on
Martin Down
Martin and Tidpit Downs is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Fordingbridge in Hampshire. Martin Down is a national nature reserve and an area of is a ''Nature Conservation Review'' site, Grade I. Bokerley Dyke, a p ...
() has been removed by centuries of ploughing.
The overall orientation of the Cursus is northeast-southwest; it does not follow a perfectly straight line between its terminals, but consists of several straight sections (of varying lengths) with abrupt but small changes in direction. It is believed that the cursus was built in two separate phases. First the southwesterly section from Thickthorn Down to Bottlebush Down, sometimes referred to as the Gussage Cursus. This was later extended another northeast, from Bottlebush Down to the terminal on Martin Down.
The quasi-linear course of the Cursus means that it ignores topographical features of the landscape. It is by no means flat, and there is also no overall 'downhill' direction. In fact the vertical profile of the Gussage Cursus is quite symmetric: it has the ridge of Gussage Down in the middle, with river valleys on either side and the terminals near the summits of the neighbouring ridges. The later Pentridge Cursus has one steep valley crossing (between Bottlebush Down and Salisbury Plantation) and beyond that it stops traversing the contours and follows them instead, gently undulating its way towards the terminal on Martin Down.
Interpretation
In the absence of any evidence for a more mundane purpose, it is assumed that the Cursus served a religious or ceremonial function. There is considerable speculation about the links between the '
ritual landscape Ritual landscapes or ceremonial landscapes are large archaeological areas that were seemingly dedicated to ceremonial purposes in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Most are dated to around 3500–1800 BC, though a mustatil in Arabia has been dated to ...
' and the course of the Cursus. The Cursus' only significant astronomical alignment is related to its southwesterly orientation: an observer at the Gussage Cursus terminal on Bottlebush Down would see the midwinter sun set behind the long barrow lying across the Cursus on the ridge of
Gussage Down
Gussage is a series of three villages in north Dorset, England, situated along the Gussage Stream, a tributary of the River Allen on Cranborne Chase, north east of Blandford Forum and north of Wimborne. The stream runs through all three parish ...
. It has been suggested that any processions along the Cursus would take place from the Martin Down terminal in a southwesterly direction for maximum visual impact (of natural and artificial features) along the route.
Archaeological excavation of the eastern ditch indicated that it was permitted to silt up rapidly and may therefore have fallen out of use quite soon after being built before being re-appropriated by later peoples. Later
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
sites such as the barrow cemeteries on
Oakley and Wyke Downs appear to have respected the presence of the Cursus. This is in contrast to the Roman engineers who built the
Ackling Dyke
Ackling Dyke is a section of Roman road in England which runs for southwest from Old Sarum (''Sorviodunum'') to the hill fort at Badbury Rings (''Vindocladia''). Part of the road on Oakley Down has been scheduled as an ancient monument.
Much ...
road across the middle of the cursus on Wyke Down, and also cut across the barrows in the Oakley Down cemetery.
References
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External links
Dorset Cursus entry in English Heritage’s National Monuments Record (NMR)o
PastScapeDorset Cursus on Megalithic PortalDorset Cursus & Ackling Dyke on Modern AntiquarianDorset Cursus speculation by David Brandon pages 52 to 56o
The Lethbridge Symposium August 2010
{{coord, 50.9434, -1.9752, region:GB-DOR_type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in Dorset
History of Dorset
Stone Age sites in England
Tourist attractions in Dorset
Scheduled monuments in Dorset
Archaeological sites in Dorset
Linear earthworks