Talk:Dorset Cursus

Untitled
I've expanded this article a great deal by incorporating the old information into a longer piece I wrote last year. I've given a list of the references I used in the "References" section and I'll add more to it as I remember what other resources I used. I'll add more photos when time allows. JimChampion 01:13, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

The rest of the pictures and diagrams have been added now. Any similarity to the writing and images on this page of the Megalithic Portal is completely intentional. I wrote the material there (based on site visits and the reference texts and websites quoted in the "References section") and took the photos and edited them myself. As its my own work, I hereby give permission to put it here on the wikipedia article - in fact I've edited it further and improved it. Some of the wiki needs tidying up perhaps. JimChampion 17:19, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Template:Megalith
I've created a new template for megalithic sites, Template:Megalith, as used on Pikestones and Round Loaf. Some instructions on the template talk page, to show how to use it. Cheers! --PopUpPirate 13:29, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Other possible interpretation
Is it possible the Stonehenge Cursus, the Dorset Cursus and the like also had an important practical function, more precisely avoiding big fires to get out of control? These fires may have been unwanted (at least by most people) or intended to win new land for agriculture.

The (most widely spread hypothetical) dates of both the Stonehenge and the Dorset cursus do not seem to contradict this hypothesis, on the contrary.

This practical function does not exclude a possible ceremonial function later on. VandenheedeJanGJ (talk) 09:23, 7 November 2013 (UTC) Docteur en Arts et Sciences de l'Art (Université de Paris I - Panthéon - Sorbonne)


 * Wikipedia articles are based on reliable sources, so if such a theory is covered in such sources, mention of it can be made in the article. Personally I wonder why people would go to the effort of building low embankments to prevent the spread of fire, when the same effect would be achieved by felling trees to form a firebreak (presumably trees were felled anyway, before the embankments were constructed). PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 09:41, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

I think it is very possible that the main part of such a cursus (between the low embankments) had to function as a firebreak. I do not pretend that the ditches and banks were there (only) to prevent the spread of fire. I do not pretend they have absolutely no function in that sense either. They certainly don't disturb when it comes to preventing the spread of a big fire.

Wildfires probably had terrible consequences at that time if they occurred. If such a cursus had to function as a firebreak, it probably had to be taken care of from time to time after it was made. So people had to know where the limits of the cursus were. Probably there were limits to the width of such a firebreak (land for agriculture was precious since costly in man power); there may have been property considerations (territory), etc.

Another argument in favor of my hypothesis is that I have read that several rivers in the area of the Dorset and the Stonehenge cursus were at that time at most winterbourne. If that was the case, the danger for wildfires during summer was probably scary at the time of the construction of both the Dorset and the Stonehenge cursus.

VandenheedeJanGJ (talk) 12:01, 7 November 2013 (UTC) Docteur en Arts et Sciences de l'Art (Université de Paris I - Panthéon - Sorbonne)

I have described a similar hypothesis for stone alignments in the Carnac region in Brittany, France, in the talk page of the article "Carnac stones". I also describe a possible function for (certain) stone circles there.

VandenheedeJanGJ (talk) 16:20, 7 November 2013 (UTC) Docteur en Arts et Sciences de l'Art (Université de Paris I - Panthéon - Sorbonne)


 * Unfortunately your hypothesis is original research and as such is not permitted on Wikipedia - see WP:NOR. Again speaking out of purely my own personal interest, I question whether firebreaks would really have been necessary in this area; the natural woodland here is temperate broadleaved, not coniferous. Temperate broadleaved forests are not prone to the same ferocious and devastating fires of coniferous forests; instead fires tend often to just burn the leaf litter at ground level, leaving the trees to survive. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 20:37, 7 November 2013 (UTC)

I cite the following phrase: "(This policy of no original research does not apply to talk pages.)" so your first phrase is incorrect. I think readers of this page would be interested to know who you (who publishes these reactions) are exactly.

Nowadays there are very explicit policies as well in southern England as in France's Brittany ("Bretagne" region) with regard to wildfires. Do you pretend they are unnecessary?

VandenheedeJanGJ (talk) 09:39, 8 November 2013 (UTC) Docteur en Arts et Sciences de l'Art (Université de Paris I - Panthéon - Sorbonne)


 * Talk pages are designed for editors to discuss suitable content and editing of the main article. They are not a forum for the discussion of possible interpretations of a monument, unless they are already discussed in reliable sources (which your theories are not). Your contributions here and at the Stonehenge Cursus and Woodhenge talk pages are unfortunately not appropriate. Ranger Steve   Talk  14:43, 8 November 2013 (UTC)

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