It is thought that the hillfort at Danebury in Hampshire housed as many as 300 people at a time, over a period of 400 years. They would have lived in roundhouses built of wattle and daub – 73 were found during the excavations. Many of the pits and four-post buildings found were probably used for storing grain. Wheat and barley were grown nearby but the storage facilities suggest that surrounding farms brought their surplus too. Livestock (sheep, cattle and pigs) was also important to the Danebury farmers.

Evidence has been found to suggest that metal- and leather-working, pottery, and spinning and weaving all took place at Danebury. Some of the goods would have been used for trading, as perhaps was any extra grain.

Religion would have been important. The centre of the hillfort is slightly higher ground and four rectangular buildings were found there which may represent shrines. Priests, known as druids, were believed to act as a link between people and the gods, as well as being law-givers, teachers, story-tellers and medicine men.

It is impossible to say just how important the defences were in protecting the Iron Age people who lived here, and they may also have functioned as a status symbol. Whatever their role, the hillfort was abandoned before the Roman invasion of AD 43.