Springfield Cursus for Debby;
"The Springfield Cursus is not far from the River Chelmer in Essex. It was some 40 m wide and 670 long m long, and a pit surrounded by a semi-circular ditch abuts the southern ditch at 200 m from the eastern end. There are in the vicinity traces of various other monuments, including possibly an oval longbarrow, and at the eastern terminal there has been a ring of posts (about 26 m in dia), possibly placed there at a late date in its history. In the neighbhourhood of the Springfield ring there were many small pits containing burnt flints and cremations of cattle, sheep and pig. There is no firm evidence as to date, a find of Mortlake pottery in a ditch inclined the excavators of a date at the end of the third millenium or late" Maybe potential alignments on Spica, Pollux and alpha Centauri (34th C bc)"
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| The Neolithic interpretation of the Springfield Cursus |
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| Late Bronze Age settlement by Springfield Cursuses (not sure how you spell it) were first thought of as probable race tracks in the 19th century, but are more likely to be part of ritual ceremonies. Trackways are often situated next to Bronze Age barrows, one thinks because of ancestor worship. And you see there is a Neolithic barrow there as well and a small circle. Essex by the way does not have much evidence of stone circles because on this Eastern side of England there is hardly any stone, and probably the circles would have been wooden and have disappeared over time. |
There is a cursus at Stonehenge the great necropolis of barrows show that many people from all over the country and abroad came there, probably to meet and feast (and trade?). Durrington Walls a couple of miles away testifies to this.
Stonehenge is most likely derived from 'hanging stones', words change through the centuries. In fact the trilithons' two vertical stones with a horizontal stone on top are an imitation of a wooden method of construction, with two tenons on top to fit the horizontal stone securely....
Archaeology is a very deep rabbit hole to go down ;)
A wonderful rabbit hole too. I always always fascinated by the Dorset Cursus. If there was Time Travel, wouldn't we have fun?!
ReplyDeleteBut then we would know the answers Jennie ;)
DeleteSo, cursi were/are the remains of pathways to a ceremonial site? In other words they are the 'rays' going out from the site, as well as the circular pathways that surround the site. In the case of the dorchester cursi, they are the paths to the rectangular feature in the middle? Forgive me: this is a new word, and the more I read, the more that I did not understand. I really appreciate this post. And your patience!
ReplyDeleteWell a bit more complicated. You are looking at a period of several thousand years, from early Neolithic to late bronze Age and these sites have been used in different ways. So a Neolithic long barrow may be the focus of ancestral worship and part of the complex as are the stone/wooden circles. But then Bronze age round barrows may be added to the mix. The cursus is just part of the complex, for instance go to Cornwall and you will see narrow pathways made up of upright stones leading to a grave cist. Not forgetting in all this that alignment - sun/moon/stars also all played a part.
DeleteDorchester cursus is also complicated, see Paul Bennett's take on it.
https://megalithix.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/dorchester-cursus-oxfordshire/
I am glad to see your comment. I baked bread today and was pondering the whole thing. Right in the middle, it occurred to me to wonder if these were old pathways, much the same as old Indian and deer paths. Yours seemed to be guided by superstition or stars or whatever. Thank you for this additional information. Off to Google.
DeleteThank you so much. I think that I have it sorted. I actually watched to videos put out by your national heritage organization. A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when the topic is brand new. Thanks a lot for your patience.
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DeleteYou will not believe how embarrassingly long it took me to figure out that the raised part came from the dirt dug out of the ditches. I actually woke up in the night with that in my head.
DeleteBank and ditch, I would have thought with your commonsense way that you would have realised that when you dig a hole, you create a mound! ;)
DeleteI was on the Preseli Hills the other day, where the inner ring of blue stones come from. Never ceases to amaze how they moved them from there.
ReplyDeleteHi, there has been a long debate on the subject - chuckle. Was it glacial movement that carried them forward or did they roller them down to the sea and take them that way? The Preseli hills are a favourite of mine, just for those hills that form a sort of prehistoric ridgeway from Ireland to Stonehenge.
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