This book is written for the enthusiasts who came, in tens of thousands, to see the excavation of Cadbury Castle; and for everyone like them, with no special knowledge but a lively interest in Arthur, in archaeology, or in history. It attempts to answer the kind of questions which they asked then, or have since asked my colleagues and myself when we have talked about Cadbury to non-specialist audiences.
One of the commonest of these questions is "How do you know where to dig?" So in Part One I have tried to show how and why the excavation was organized, how policy was decided, and how, step by logical step, we expanded our knowledge. Inevitably, the story is a complicated one, because on an excavation of this size the making of decisions is necessarily a complex process.
In Part Two I sketch the results of the excavation as they appear at the present stage of research. This is in every sense a summary and interim report, but the analysis of finds and structures has already proceeded far enough for me to be confident that the outlines of the picture are firm. (Foreword)