CHAPTER 3

THE STONEHENGE CURSUS

Let's look at one more cursus. This one is about 9,090 ft. long (1.75 miles) and runs in the same general direction as the Dorset Cursus -- east-west.

As you can see it is half-a-mile north of Stonehenge, and there was considerable building activity in the area. The dots are round 'barrows'. Many of them have scenic settings. Some are in lines or crescents, much like modern housing in subdivisions. Such 'barrows' were also constructed in Brittany (northern France). But the round barrows are later, so the two at the west end of the cursus were probably built there long after the cursus had ceased to be used for whatever its purpose was.

This cursus close to Stonehenge was built in the same way as the Dorset Cursus: a ditch dug into chalk, and an embankment placed beside it, the two parallel lines about 300 feet apart.

And there's more to it than that: Look at the upper left corner of this next map, and you'll see another "lesser" cursus -- most of it has apparently been lost through plowing over thousands of years.

There seems to have been some connection between the greater cursus and Stonehenge because from the air in our day we can see the outline of the only apparent exit from Stonehenge pointing in a straight line directly towards the eastern part of the cursus.