“CURSUS” MONUMENTS FOUND BY AERIAL ARCHAEOLOGY. Two of this year’s findings through aerial photography are of Neolithic “cursus” monuments. I looked up this wikipedia entry on cursus and found that “the discipline of aerial archaeology is the most effective method of identifying such large features following thousands of years of weathering and plough damage. Some cursus [sic, “cursus” is fourth declension] have only been identified through a first sighting of cropmarks visible from aerial reconnaissance… ” Aerial photography has found over 50 of them. Apparently they were built between 3400 BC and 3000 BC. One cursus is near Stonehenge.
They range in length between fifty yards and almost six miles, making it understandable that aerial archaeology is so helpful in finding them. Their purpose is unknown. They were “traditionally’ thought by scholars to be processional routes. Recently it has been argued that they were used for ceremonial competitions. This seems to circle back to the 18th century theory that cursus were early Roman athletic courses, hence the Latin name cursus, meaning “course”.