Historiography
Excavations at hill forts in the first half of the 20th century focussed on the defences because of the assumption that hill forts were developed as the result of military tensions. The exception to this trend was the series of excavations undertaken by Mortimer Wheeler at Maiden Castle, Dorset in the 1930s. From 1960 onwards, the attention of archaeologists shifted to the interior of hill forts and re-examining their function. Michael Avery opined in 1986 "The ultimate defensive weapon of European prehistory was the hillfort of the first millennium B.C.", epitomising the contemporary interpretation of hill forts. Since then post-processual archaeologists have reinterpreted the sites, introducing interpretations that hill forts were important as symbols of wealth and power.
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