Scorton Cursus Cursus View all content for Scorton Cursus

"The site was discovered by Prof J.K. St Joseph in 1949, and from his series of aerial photographs it was possible to trace the course of the cursus for approximately 2.1 kilometers. Evidence from soil stripping and exacavations has shown that the monument extends even further to the north-west, the north west terminal not as yet having been discovered. The south west terminal, which shows clearly on the aerial photographs, consists of a straight transverse ditch which joins the two main ditches at right angles. Clustering around it was a series of ring-ditch crop marks. The aerial photographs also show a series of bleach marks between the ditches at the southern end of the cursus, which may represent a series of contiguous mounds. This area of the cursus also features what appears to be smaller outer ditches, although they may be restricted to the southern end of the cursus as they were absent in the excavated area. Another noteworthy feature brought out by aerial photography is the accuracy with which the ditches have been laid out, so they are remarkably straight considering the distance over which they extend". "from the evidence available at Rudston, it would appear that cursus monuments in Yorkshire developed during the late Neolithic, and flourished, as can be seen at Rudston in its magnificent complex of monuments, into the Early Bronze Age. It is within this local chronological framework that the cursus at Scorton must have developed, although not to as great an extent as the important centres of Rudston or Thornborough". Extracts from; Excavation at the Cursus at Scoton North Yorkshire 1978 Peter Topping Yorkshire Archaeological Journal Volume 54 1982

Posted by fitzcoraldo 18th July 2002ce

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