Stukeley coined 'cursus' for those long earthworks — calling them racetracks. But the term 'cursus' stuck as the standard academic label, not 'processionary pathways' as some might speculate. The smallest is quite short while the longest stretches for miles — you can't call those the same thing, can you? Yet the terminology stuck. It's nuts.
Stukeley's cursus interpretation as racetracks persists as processional pathways in modern archaeology
Key facts
- Stukeley identified cursus monuments as racetracks, coining the term 'cursus'
- Modern archaeologists refer to cursus monuments as processional pathways
- Cursus monuments vary greatly in size, from less than 100 meters to several miles in length
- The inconsistent terminology persists in academic literature despite the size variations making uniform classification problematic
Sources
The Stonehenge Cursusstone-circles.org.uk
He imagined teams of Romans or Ancient Britons racing chariots along its length and so gave it the name 'cursus', the Latin for racecourse, a term which is now ...
Cursusen.wikipedia.org
The name 'cursus' was suggested in 1723 by the antiquarian William Stukeley ... Contemporary internal features are rare and it has been traditionally thought ...
The Dorset Cursus: the biggest Neolithic monument in Britaintheblackmorevale.co.uk
The term “Cursus” was coined by 18th-century ... Stukeley, who first believed these long, narrow structures were ancient Roman racetracks.
The Enigmatic Cursusmegalithic.co.uk
Cursus monuments date from about 3800 BC and are among the earliest earthworks in the Neolithic landscape and perhaps the most mysterious.
Stonehenge Cursus | Where it is and how to find itstonehenge-tours.com
Cursus is the Latin name for racetrack or hippodrome. It was named by William Stukeley, an early antiquarian, in the early 1700's. He was ...
Was this story useful?
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.