Peter Woodman

For the Anglican priest, see Peter Woodman (priest).

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	Archaeology of Ireland Prehistoric archaeology
Institutions	Ulster Museum University College Cork

Education and career

Woodman 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

1. "Obituary: Prof Peter Woodman". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
2. "Peter Woodman". Mesolithic Europa Conference. The Prehistoric Society. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
3. "Mountsandel: where Irish history started". Coleraine Times. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
4. Hirst, K. Kris (30 August 2015). "Mount Sandel - Mesolithic Settlement in Ireland". About.com Archaeology. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Woodman, Peter (2015). Ireland's First Settlers: Time and the Mesolithic. Oxford: Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781782977780. JSTOR j.ctt19dzdtd.
8. "Professor Peter Woodman honoured". University College Cork. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
9. 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.