Jacqui Wood (born 4 January 1950) is a British experimental archaeologist and writer, specialising in the daily life of prehistoric

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

ans. As of 2001, she is director of

Saveock Water Archaeology Saveock is a hamlet in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies just east of Chacewater. Archaeologists have uncovered "witch pits" here dating from the 1640s up to the 1970s. These pits are shallow holes lined with the skins of animals tur ...

, and also the director and founder of Cornwall Celtic Village, a reconstructed

Bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

settlement, at

Saveock Saveock is a hamlet in west Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered ...

. Wood was a member of the National Education Committee of the

Council for British Archaeology The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is an educational charity established in 1944 in the UK. It works to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and futu ...

(CBA) for three years, and secretary of the CBA for the south west region for another three years. As of 1995, she was a member of the General Committee of the Cornwall Archaeological Society and consultant to the

Eden Project The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS E ...

in Cornwall. Wood has published papers in archaeology journals and conferences, and given lectures. She has also appeared on TV programmes about prehistoric dwellings and cooking, including episode 8 of series 11 of

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

. And the Great British Baking Show season 1 episode 3. She has also given demonstrations of Bronze Age technology for

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, researched the grass cloak of

Ötzi the Iceman Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy. Ötzi is believed to ...

, as well as his shoes (which she believes are actually

snowshoe Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwe ...

s), and made replicas of them for the

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

museum devoted to the mummy. She also made a replica of the

Orkney Hood The Orkney Hood is an Iron Age garment, now in the collection of National Museums Scotland. It is in the form of a woollen hood with tablet~woven trim and fringe. The hood was found in 1867, in a peat bog A bog or bogland is a wetland tha ...

(Britain's oldest textile) for the

Orkney Council The Orkney Islands Council ( gd, Comhairle Eileanan Arcaibh), is the local authority for Orkney, Scotland. It was established in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and was largely unaffected by the Scottish local government changes ...

, and replicas of various prehistoric dwellings. She has published on

food history Food history is an interdisciplinary field that examines the history and the cultural, economic, environmental, and sociological impacts of food and human nutrition. It is considered distinct from the more traditional field of culinary history, ...

. Wood has excavated a site at Saveock Water which she has interpreted as evidence of early modern

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

. She has written two fantasy novels set in prehistory, ''Cliff Dreamers'' and ''Return to the Temple of the Mother''.

Bibliography

* ''Prehistoric Cooking''. Stroud, Tempus, 2001. * ''Cliff Dreamers'', e-book. * ''Tasting the Past: Recipes from the Stone Age to the Present''. History Press.
A new perspective on West Cornwall courtyard houses
''Cornish Archaeology'', 1997, number 36. * ''Return to the Temple of the Mother'', e-book, 2020.

References

External links

Jacqui Wood
s site.
Cliffdreamer
s site British archaeologists 1950 births Living people British women archaeologists People from Cornwall {{UK-archaeologist-stub