Stonehenge Cursus - Excavation

Excavation

William Stukeley was the first antiquarian to identify and record the Stonehenge Cursus, although he incorrectly assumed it to be Roman in origin. In 1947 John FS Stone excavated a small area of the southern ditch toward the west end of the cursus. He discovered a small chipping of bluestone and an antler pick in a specially dug recess that dated from approximately 2500 BCE.

In 2007, the Stonehenge Riverside Project dug three trenches at the western end of the cursus, discovering the antler pick at the western terminus ditch. A trench in the northern ditch uncovered a sherd of pottery tentatively dated to the 4th millennium BCE. A trench at the southern ditch found evidence of recuts into the original ditch, c. 2500 BCE (when Stones antler was deposited), and again between 2000 and 1500 BCE.