Peter Woodman FSA MRIA (2 July 1943 – 24 January 2017)[1] was an Irish archaeologist specialising in the Mesolithic period in Ireland. He was a professor emeritus at University College Cork and a former keeper of the Ulster Museum.
Peter Woodman | |
|---|---|
| Born | 2 July 1943 |
| Died | 24 January 2017 (aged 73) |
| Alma mater | Queen's University of Belfast |
| Known for | Excavations at Mount Sandel, Newferry and Ferriter's Cove |
| Awards | Europa prize, 2009 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
Education and career
editWoodman grew up in Holywood, County Down[1] and studied archaeology at Queen's University Belfast.[2] After obtaining his doctorate, he became the Assistant Keeper of Prehistoric Antiquities at the Ulster Museum.[1][2] In the 1970s he excavated Mesolithic sites at Mount Sandel, the oldest known site of human occupation in Ireland,[2][3][4] and Newferry in County Antrim.[2][5]
He became a professor at University College Cork in 1983,[1] where he continued his research into the Mesolithic period, discovering some of the first evidence of the Mesolithic from the Republic of Ireland at Ferriter’s Cove on the Dingle Peninsula.[1][6] After retiring, he published Ireland’s First Settlers: Time and the Mesolithic, bringing together fifty years of research into the Irish Mesolithic.[1][7]
Woodman was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1982.[1] He was awarded the Europa Prize by the Prehistoric Society in 2009, recognising outstanding contributions to the study of European prehistory.[8] In the same year, the Prehistoric Society organised a conference and published a festschrift in his honour.[9] Following Woodman's death in January 2017, James Mallory described him as QUB's "most illustrious archaeology graduate", whose work provided the "basic structure of all subsequent research into the Irish Mesolithic".[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h "Obituary: Prof Peter Woodman". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Peter Woodman". Mesolithic Europa Conference. The Prehistoric Society. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ "Mountsandel: where Irish history started". Coleraine Times. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ Hirst, K. Kris (30 August 2015). "Mount Sandel - Mesolithic Settlement in Ireland". About.com Archaeology. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ Woodman, Peter C. (1977). "Recent Excavations at Newferry, Co. Antrim". Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society. 43: 155–199. doi:10.1017/S0079497X00010379. ISSN 2050-2729. S2CID 130442977.
- ^ Woodman, Peter C.; Anderson, Liz; Finlay, N. (1999). Excavations at Ferriter's Cove, 1983-95: Last foragers, First Farmers in the Dingle Peninsula. Bray: Wordwell. ISBN 186985733X.
- ^ Woodman, Peter (2015). Ireland's First Settlers: Time and the Mesolithic. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781782977780. JSTOR j.ctt19dzdtd.
- ^ "Professor Peter Woodman honoured". University College Cork. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
- ^ Allen, Michael J.; McOmish, David (2009). Finlay, Nyree; McCartan, Sinéad; Milner, Nicky; Wickham-Jones, Caroline (eds.). From Bann Flakes to Bushmills: Papers in Honour of Professor Peter Woodman. Prehistoric Society Research Papers 1. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781842173558. JSTOR j.ctt1cd0p7p.