Curriestanes cursus () is a large

neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

ditched enclosure on the outskirts of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, in the parish of

Troqueer Troqueer is a former village and a parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway on the west side of the River Nith. The eastern-side was merged with Dumfries to the east in 1929, and today eastern Troqueer is a sub ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

. It is visible only from

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

. It is, along with

Pict's Knowe Pict's Knowe () is a henge monument in the parish of Troqueer, Dumfries and Galloway. It is one of a small group of henge monuments around Dumfries which includes Broadlea henge near Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Annan. Pict's Knowe is located 4 ...

, one of two

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

s in

parish.

Description

Curriestanes is an earthwork

cursus Cursuses are monumental Neolithic enclosure structures comprising parallel banks with external ditches or trenches. Found only in the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, relics within them indicate that they were built between 3400 and 3000 BC ...

. While familiar from cursus sites in England, these types of monuments are less common than timber cursuses in Scotland. Less than fifteen monuments of this type have been found in Scotland and only five including Curriestanes have been excavated. Curriestanes is rare in having an entrance gap in one of its terminals, a feature known from only a handful of sites in the UK. The cursus is particularly wide at 100m, with a known area of at least three hectares. Only 3 other cursus monuments in Scotland are wider: East Linton, Brioch and Monktonhill. The ditches are irregular and do not appear to have been intended to be exactly straight which suggests that they may have been built in short segments. The ditches are wide, 7m, and shallow, no deeper than 0.6m.

Context

Unlike England, where cursus monuments have been known and studied for hundreds of years, the study of cursus monuments is a recent phenomenon. Before 1976, when

RCAHMS The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that was "sponsored" inanced and with oversightthrough Historic Scotland, an executive ...

began its aerial photography programme, only one definite cursus site was known in Scotland: Gallaberry in Dumfreis and Galloway. Over 50 Scottish sites have now been identified. These are found in two main geographical concentrations, in lowland

Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...

and

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

and another in Dumfries and Galloway, for the most part in and around the Nith valley. Curriestanes is one of twelve such monuments in Dumfries and Galloway. 200m to the south of the terminal of the monument, there is a ring-ditch, also only visible as a

cropmark Cropmarks or crop marks are a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform. Such marks, along with parch marks, soil marks a ...

.{{Cite book, title=Place and Memory: Excavations at The Pict's Knowe, Holywood and Holm Farm, Dumfries and Galloway, 1994-8, last=Brophy, first=Kenneth, publisher=Oxbow Books, year=2007, isbn=978-1-84217-247-6, editor-last=Thomas, editor-first=Julian, editor-link=Julian Thomas, location=Oxford, pages=162, chapter=The cursus monuments of south-west Scotland

References

Archaeological sites in Dumfries and Galloway Scheduled monuments in Dumfries and Galloway Linear earthworks