Cursus was a name given by early British archaeologists such as William Stukeley to the large parallel lengths of banks with external ditches which they thought were early Roman athletics tracks, hence the Latin name 'Cursus', meaning 'Circus'. Cursus monuments are now understood to be Neolithic structures and may have been of ceremonial function. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... William Stukeley (November 7, 1687–March 3, 1765) was an English antiquary who pioneered the archaeological investigation of Stonehenge and Avebury. ... The Latin word cursus can be generally translated into English as course. The word derives from currere, to run. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... An array of Neolithic artifacts, including bracelets, axe heads, chisels, and polishing tools. ...

They range in length from 50 metres to almost 10 kilometres and the distance between the parallel earthworks can be up to 100 metres. Banks at the terminal ends enclosed the cursus. More than a hundred examples are known and the discipline of aerial archaeology is the most effective method of identifying such large features following thousands of years of weathering and plough damage. Aerial archaeology is the study of archaeological remains by examining them from altitude. ...

Contemporary internal features are rare and it has been traditionally thought that the cursuses were used as processional routes. They are often aligned on and respect the position of pre-existing long barrows and bank barrows and appear to ignore difficulties in terrain. The Dorset Cursus, the longest known example, crosses a river and three valleys along its course across Cranborne Chase. It has been conjectured that they were used in rituals connected with ancestor worship, that they follow astronomical alignments or that they served as buffer zones between ceremonial and occupation landscapes. More recent studies have reassessed the original interpretation and argued that they were in fact used for ceremonial competitions. Finds of arrowheads at the terminal ends suggest archery and hunting were important to the builders and that the length of the cursus may have reflected its use as a proving ground for young men involving a journey to adulthood. Anthropological parallels exist for this interpretation. A long barrow is a prehistoric monument dating to the Neolithic period. ... A bank barrow, sometimes referred to as a barrow-bank, ridge barrow, or ridge mound, is a type of tumulus first identified by O.G.S. Crawford in 1938. ... A view northeast from Gussage Down towards Bottlebush Down - the approximate course of the Cursus banks are superimposed in white. ... Ashmore pond Cranborne Chase is a Chalk plateau in central southern England, straddling the counties Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. ... A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ... Anthropology is the study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ...

Examples include the four cursuses at Rudston in Yorkshire, that at Fornham All Saints in Suffolk and the Cleaven Dyke in Perthshire. Rudston is a small village in the East Riding of Yorkshire approximately 6 miles to the West of Bridlington. ... Look up Yorkshire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Suffolk (pronounced ) is a large historic and modern non-metropolitan county in East Anglia, England. ... Perthshire (Siorrachd Pheairt in Gaelic) was a county in central Scotland, which extended from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south. ...

An impressive example is found at Stonehenge, within sight of the more famous stone circle, on land belonging to The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty's Stonehenge Historic Landscape. For other meanings of Stonehenge, see: Stonehenge (disambiguation) Stonehenge is a henge, a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the English county of Wiltshire, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury. ... The standard of the National Trust The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as The National Trust, is a British preservation organization. ... Property of The National Trust, located near Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. ...

Compare with the later Avenue. This page refers to the archaeological feature known as an avenue. ...

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• Cursus: solving a 6,000-year-old puzzle by David McOmish, from British Archaeology.
• Seeing the cursus as a symbolic river by Kenneth Brophy, from British Archaeology.
• The Enigmatic Cursus - feature article on The Megalithic Portal.
• Cursus enclosures research project by English Heritage.

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