Editing Timber circle (section)

==British Isles==
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[[File:Woodhenge, Wiltshire.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Modern pillars marking the post-holes of Woodhenge, facing northwards]]
Timber circles in the [[British Isles]] date to the late [[Neolithic]] and early [[Bronze Age]]. The posts themselves have long since disappeared and the sites are identified from the rings of [[posthole]]s that they stood in. [[Aerial photography]] and [[archaeological geophysics|geophysical survey]] have led to the discovery of increasing numbers of the features. Often a [[postpipe]] survives in the posthole fill aiding diagnosis.

They are usually more than {{convert|20|m}}, and up to {{convert|60|m}}, in diameter and the posts that constituted them were generally more than {{convert|50|cm}} 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 [[stone circle]]s were adopted instead during later phases.

They appear either alone or in the context of other monuments, namely [[henge]]s, such as that at [[Woodhenge]] and [[henge enclosure]]s 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 {{convert|250|m}} was built around a passage tomb on the [[Hill of Tara]].<ref>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</ref> Smaller timber circles were built at sites including [[Newgrange]] and [[Navan Fort|Navan]].<ref name=halpin-newman>Halpin & Newman, pp.95-98</ref>

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.