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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.
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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.
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A view northeast from
Gussage Down towards Bottlebush Down - the approximate course of the Cursus banks are superimposed in white. The round barrows on Wyke Down can be seen in the centre of the photo. The cursus has a slight change of direction as it climbs Bottlebush Down and it is thought that the
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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
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is intimately related to the Dorset Cursus, in that it is incorporated into the northern bank. The barrow is very closely aligned with the Cursus (NE-SW) but its greater prominence would have made it clearly distinguishable from the bank. It is suggested that the barrow pre-dates the Cursus, and its
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Most of the cursus earthworks have long since been destroyed and its course is only visible as soilmarks when conditions are favourable. Looking southwest from the edge of
Salisbury Plantation, the course of the northern bank and ditch is visible as a dark stripe gently meandering down the hillslope
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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
281:' 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
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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
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First the 5.6 km (3.5 mi) southwesterly section from
Thickthorn Down to Bottlebush Down, sometimes referred to as the Gussage Cursus. This was later extended another 4.3 km (2.7 mi) northeast, from Bottlebush Down to the terminal on Martin Down.
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The earthworks of the Cursus' southwestern terminal on
Thickthorn Down. The enlarged bank ends can be clearly seen, and the end of the cursus is squared off with a terminal bank about 100 m in length. The course of the Cursus heads off to the right of the
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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
285:. 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.
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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 '
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The earthen long barrow in
Britain: an introduction to the study of the funerary practice and culture of the Neolithic people of the third millennium BC
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Very little remains above ground of the Dorset Cursus, which once stretched for 10 km (6¼ miles) through the undulating chalkland of
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direct inclusion into the structure of the Cursus implies a strong connection between the long barrows and the purpose of the Cursus.
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these banks are still visible within
Salisbury Plantation on Oakley Down, where a long barrow is built into the northwest bank (
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and Wyke Downs appear to have respected the presence of the Cursus. This is in contrast to the Roman engineers who built the
99:). It is by far the largest example of this class of ancient monument: it is over three times longer than the archetypical
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road). These banks were linked together by cross-banks at the terminals; of these only the southwestern terminal bank on
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74:(towards the right of this photo). The southern bank is just inside the field boundary (towards the left of the photo).
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original terminal of the cursus was at this point (and was later extended another 4.5 km north-east to Martin Down).
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road across the middle of the cursus on Wyke Down, and also cut across the barrows in the Oakley Down cemetery.
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significance to the
Neolithic people who spent an estimated 0.5 million worker-hours in its construction.
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A surviving section of the Cursus' southern bank on the ridge of Bottlebush Down (
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Diagram showing a longitudinal section along the route of the Dorset Cursus.
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The Modern Antiquarian: A Pre-Millennial Odyssey Through Megalithic Britain
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Dorset Cursus entry in English Heritage’s National Monuments Record (NMR)
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monument that spans across 10 km (6¼ miles) of the chalk
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Dorset Cursus speculation by David Brandon pages 52 to 56
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A phenomenology of landscape: Places, Paths and Monuments
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Dorset Cursus & Ackling Dyke on Modern Antiquarian
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A Landscape Revealed: 10000 years on a chalkland farm
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121:geophysical surveying techniques
501:Archaeological sites in Dorset
384:. Berg Publishers. Chapter 5.
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496:Scheduled monuments in Dorset
491:Tourist attractions in Dorset
360:. Tempus Publishing Limited.
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153:The Cursus dates from 3300
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486:Stone Age sites in England
317:Cambridge University Press
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241:Martin Down
470:Categories
440:50°56′36″N
305:References
291:Bronze Age
117:soil marks
105:Stonehenge
443:1°58′31″W
410:PastScape
230:remains (
113:cropmarks
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380:(1997).
329:(1998).
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103:near
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