{{short description|Irish archaeologist}} {{about||the Anglican priest|Peter Woodman (priest)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Use Irish English|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Peter Woodman | birth_date = 2 July 1943 | death_date = 24 January 2017 (aged 73) | fields = {{plainlist| * Archaeology of Ireland * Prehistoric archaeology }} | workplaces = {{plainlist| * Ulster Museum * University College Cork }} | alma_mater = Queen's University of Belfast | known_for = Excavations at Mount Sandel, Newferry and Ferriter's Cove | awards = Europa prize, 2009 }}
'''Peter Woodman''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FSA|size=80%}} {{post-nominals|MRIA|size=80%}} (2 July 1943 – 24 January 2017)<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/obituary-prof-peter-woodman-1.2962379?campaign_id=A100|title=Obituary: Prof Peter Woodman|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en-US|access-date=2017-02-04}}</ref> 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.
== Education and career == Woodman grew up in Holywood, County Down<ref name=":0" /> and studied archaeology at Queen's University Belfast.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/mesolithiceuropaconference/Home/conference/peter-woodman|title=Peter Woodman|website=Mesolithic Europa Conference|publisher=The Prehistoric Society|access-date=2017-02-04}}</ref> After obtaining his doctorate, he became the Assistant Keeper of Prehistoric Antiquities at the Ulster Museum.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In the 1970s he excavated Mesolithic sites at Mount Sandel, the oldest known site of human occupation in Ireland,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.colerainetimes.co.uk/news/mountsandel-where-irish-history-started-1-6785036|title=Mountsandel: where Irish history started|date=2015-06-09|work=Coleraine Times|access-date=2017-02-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/mesolithicarchaic/a/mount_sandel.htm|title=Mount Sandel - Mesolithic Settlement in Ireland|last=Hirst|first=K. Kris|date=2015-08-30|website=About.com Archaeology|access-date=2017-02-04|archive-date=27 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927054631/http://archaeology.about.com/od/mesolithicarchaic/a/mount_sandel.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Newferry in County Antrim.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Woodman|first=Peter C.|year=1977|title=Recent Excavations at Newferry, Co. Antrim|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-prehistoric-society/article/div-classtitlerecent-excavations-at-newferry-co-antrimdiv/E5D9646B367B8971382E6331A843A649|journal=Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society|volume=43|pages=155–199|doi=10.1017/S0079497X00010379|s2cid=130442977 |issn=2050-2729|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
He became a professor at University College Cork in 1983,<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Excavations at Ferriter's Cove, 1983-95: Last foragers, First Farmers in the Dingle Peninsula|last1=Woodman|first1=Peter C.|last2=Anderson|first2=Liz|last3=Finlay|first3=N.|publisher=Wordwell|year=1999|isbn=186985733X|location=Bray}}</ref> After retiring, he published ''Ireland’s First Settlers: Time and the Mesolithic'', bringing together fifty years of research into the Irish Mesolithic.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|jstor=j.ctt19dzdtd|title=Ireland's First Settlers: Time and the Mesolithic|last=Woodman|first=Peter|publisher=Oxbow Books|year=2015|isbn=9781782977780|location=Oxford}}</ref>
Woodman was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1982.<ref name=":0" /> He was awarded the Europa Prize by the Prehistoric Society in 2009, recognising outstanding contributions to the study of European prehistory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucc.ie/en/about/uccnews/archive/2009pressreleases/fullstory-76348-en.html|title=Professor Peter Woodman honoured|date=2009-06-05|publisher=University College Cork|language=en|access-date=2017-02-04}}</ref> In the same year, the Prehistoric Society organised a conference and published a ''festschrift'' in his honour.<ref>{{Cite book|jstor=j.ctt1cd0p7p|title=From Bann Flakes to Bushmills: Papers in Honour of Professor Peter Woodman|publisher=Oxbow Books|year=2009|isbn=9781842173558|editor-last=Finlay|editor-first=Nyree|series=Prehistoric Society Research Papers 1|location=Oxford|editor-last2=McCartan|editor-first2=Sinéad|editor-last3=Milner|editor-first3=Nicky|editor-last4=Wickham-Jones|editor-first4=Caroline|last1=Allen|first1=Michael J.|last2=McOmish|first2=David|volume=1}}</ref> 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".<ref name=":0" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodman, Peter}} Category:1943 births Category:2017 deaths Category:People from Holywood, County Down Category:20th-century Irish archaeologists Category:21st-century Irish archaeologists Category:Archaeologists from Northern Ireland Category:Irish prehistorians Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Category:Irish curators Category:Academics of University College Cork Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:Scholars and academics from County Down