Environmental analysis indicated the site was occupied whilst the area was still wooded with forest clearances coming later, in the Bronze Age.

At least one skeleton, of a young man killed by an arrow was found, seemingly connected with the burning of the timber defences and suggesting at least one phase of violence.

A single grape pip and a leaf fragment is evidence of vine cultivation and the occupants seem to have traded with sites further to the southwest.

Animal bone analysis suggests that most of the meat was consumed in late summer and early autumn, possibly indicating seasonal use of the site.

[citation needed] Little remains of the Neolithic activity and the site is more easily identified as a prime example of an Iron Age hill fort.

The Clubmen were a third force in the English Civil War, aligned to neither crown nor parliament, but striving to protect their land from being despoiled by foraging troops of either side.

"[5]The hill is now a National Nature Reserve (NNR) with common plants including milkwort, salad burnet, horseshoe vetch, squinancywort, pyramidal orchid and wild thyme.

The money to buy the hill had come from a Natural England grant and a legacy gift left to benefit Dorset countryside.