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In archaeology, timber circles are rings of upright wooden posts, built mainly by ancient peoples in the British Isles and North America. They survive only as gapped rings of , with no evidence they formed walls, making them distinct from . Like , it is believed their purpose was ritual, ceremonial, and/or astronomical. Sometimes in North America they are referred to as woodhenge.
They are usually more than , and up to , in diameter and the posts that constituted them were generally more than wide. Often they consist of at least two rings or ovals of timber posts, although some consist of only one ring. Wider gaps between the posts are thought to have served as entrance routes. The builders replaced the posts as they decomposed and in some cases were adopted instead during later phases.
They appear either alone or in the context of other monuments, namely , such as that at Woodhenge and such as those at Durrington Walls. The only excavated examples of timber circles that stood alone from other features are Seahenge and Arminghall in Norfolk and the early phases of The Sanctuary in Wiltshire.
Several Early Bronze Age timber circles have been found in Ireland. A huge timber circle with a diameter of was built around a passage tomb on the Hill of Tara.Andrew Halpin and Conor Newman. Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600. Oxford University Press, 2006. pp.341-347 Smaller timber circles were built at sites including Newgrange and Navan Fort.Halpin & Newman, pp.95-98
Timber circles in the British Isles likely served ritual purposes. Animal bone and domestic waste found at many timber circle sites implies some form of temporary habitation and seasonal feasting. They were built on high ground and would have been very conspicuous. Isolated burials have been found at some sites, but not enough to suggest a strong funerary purpose.
An early example of a timber circle witnessed by Europeans was recorded by watercolor artist John White in July 1585 when he visited the Algonquian village of Secotan in North Carolina. White was the artist-illustrator and mapmaker for the Roanoke Colony expedition sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to begin the first attempts at British colonization of the Americas. White's works represent the sole-surviving visual record of the native inhabitants of the Americas as encountered by England's first colonizers on the Atlantic seaboard. White's watercolor and the writings of the chronicler who accompanied him, Thomas Harriot, describes a great religious festival, possibly the Green Corn ceremony, with participants holding a ceremonial dance at a timber circle. The posts of the circle were carved with faces. Harriot noted that many of the participants had come from surrounding villages and that " every man attyred in the most strange fashion they can devise havinge certayne marks on the backs to declare of what place they bee." and that " Three of the fayrest Virgins" danced around a central post at the center of the timber circle.
In September 2005 archaeologist Frank Cowan conducted excavations at the smaller circular enclosure at the Stubbs Earthworks in Warren County, Ohio; discovering a timber circle in diameter and composed of 172 large posts. Carbon dating of charcoal found in post molds at the site have dated the structure to 200-300 CE.
Archaeologist Marvin Fowler has speculated that the woodhenges also served as “aligners” and that there may have been as many as 3 more in other strategic locations around the city of Cahokia, built to triangulate and lay out construction projects. At least one other possible circle at Cahokia has been put forward by Fowler, but his suggestion has not yet gained full acceptance by other archaeologists. This location was discovered near Mounds 72 and 96, directly to the south of Monks Mound. Several post holes of what may have been a ceremonial area with a in diameter circle and 48 posts. Archaeologists have dated the placement of at least one of the posts to approximately 950 CE. Archaeological research has shown that four of the posts were at the cardinal locations of north, south, east and west, with eastern and western posts marking the position of the equinox sunrise and sunsets. Four other posts in the circle were shown to be at the summer solstice sunrise and sunset and the winter solstice sunrise and sunset positions. This setup is nearly identical to the diameter and post positions of Woodhenge III, differing only in that Woodhenge III was smaller in diameter. The placement of the two mounds at the location and the directions in which they are oriented correspond to several of the solstice marking posts. The post nearest the later elite burial of the "Birdman" is the location that marked the summer solstice sunrise at the times of the sites use. The early stages of the mounds were actually constructed around the posts, although at a later point the posts were removed.
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