From the Introduction: A small village, consisting of no more than a handful longhouses, takes up the center of this large clearing carved from the surrounding woods. The few houses of the village are grouped around a central yard shaded by a single large tree. Just behind the houses the earthwork enclosing the village begins to rise. It is crowned by a high wooden stockade consisting of many of the trees cut down to clear this glade. Beyond earthwork and stockade a shallow trench provides additional protection. Curiously enough, no gate bars the way to the dirt path leading away through the meadows, past grazing cattle towards the dense, dark wood still surrounding this small isle of civilization.