Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (796 page)

A group of deposits representing a geostratigraphic stage within the
PLEISTOCENE
series of the British
QUATERNARY
system, named after the site of Wolston in Warwickshire where a fine sequence of deposits of this period has been recorded. The Wolstonian is usually interpreted as the penultimate cold stage in the Pleistocene sequence represented in the British Isles, broadly spanning the period 200000 to 125000 bc. Some Wolstonian deposits have been found stratified above
HOXNIAN
interglacial deposits and below
IPSWICHIAN
interglacial deposits. The Wolstonian is broadly equivalent to the
RISS
in the Alpine sequence and the Illinoisan in North America.
ACHEULIAN
artefacts have been found in Wolstonian deposits.

 
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Area of land covered in trees that are maintained as a managed resource for the production of timber, underwood, coppice wood, browsing, and pannage. In medieval Europe woods were an extremely valuable economic resource and their management provided a livelihood for many people. Archaeologically, woods contain many features relating to the economic exploitation of the woodland resources including charcoal-burning platforms, saw pits, internal subdividing banks, boundary works (woodbanks), and trackways.

 
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Earthwork bank with exterior ditch forming the boundary of a wood. The purpose of the woodbank was to keep browsing animals from straying into the wood when not required there, to prevent woodland animals escaping into surrounding agricultural land, and preventing woodland resources being stolen. Usually medieval in date. The bank is often characterized by the gnarled vestiges of trees surviving on it.

 
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Classic late Neolithic class I henge monument constructed about 2500 bc, situated immediately outside
DURRINGTON WALLS
to the south. The monument comprises an earthwork enclosure 88m across formed by a bank and internal ditch up to 12m wide. There is a single entrance to the northeast. The site was fully excavated in 1926–8 under the direction of Maud Cunnington , after being discovered through aerial photography a short while before. Excavations in the interior revealed traces of a circular wooden building represented by six concentric circles of postholes. The building is very similar to those found inside Durrington Walls, and one possibility is that Woodhenge was a shrine or temple adjacent to a settlement inside the larger henge enclosure. The long axis of the rings of postholes at Woodhenge points to the entrance of the henge enclosure and also aligns with the midsummer rising sun. Also in the interior was a child's grave and a possible stonehole. The finds from the site included quantities of grooved ware pottery. Following excavation, the site was restored for presentation by the then Ministry of Public Building and Works. As such it now represents a monument to early 20th century
ad
heritage presentation as much as it does an archaeologically meaningful site.
[Rep.: M. E. Cunnington , 1929,
Woodhenge
. Devizes: privately printed]

 
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A general term for cultural groups living in the wooded eastern parts of North America during the
FORMATIVE
. Woodland subsumes many local adaptations, but in general these were hunter-gatherer communities whose subsistence base was augmented with some cultivation. Woodland communities used pottery and had elaborate toolmaking and artistic traditions. Burials were usually made in established cemeteries, often within large earthen mounds. Trade networks were extensive. Starting about 1000 bc, Woodland comprises a series of distinctive cultures including
ADENA
,
HOPEWELL
,
MISSISSIPPIAN
, and Iroquoian. In some areas Woodland societies continued down to modern times. See
EARLY WOODLAND
,
LATE WOODLAND
.

 
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