- Period (Currency): Restricted. The tradition of building and using Gussage style settlements appears from present evidence to have spanned between 100 and 200 years, broadly the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. Individual sites were used throughout this period.
- Rarity: Very rare. Approximately 10 examples are known, although it is likely that more remain to be recognised. For example, aerial survey and fieldwalking in the vicinity of Gussage All Saints has revealed evidence for sites of a very similar form, and it is to be expected that further work in other areas will also add to the range of sites which may potentially be assigned to this class. In other cases, as at Tollard Royal (Wainwright, 1968), excavated enclosures which are presented as isolated sites may actually be components of sites which would be assigned to this class.
- Diversity (form): Medium. Assessments of diversity remain somewhat problematic, since these sites are by nature a series of irregular enclosures. Two main types can be recognized at present on the basis of overall ground plan.
- Period (representativity): High. Gussage style settlements are one of a fairly restricted range of monument classes known for the later prehistoric period, providing a fairly comprehensive picture of the character of economic and social conditions in those areas where they occur.
Assigning scores to these criteria following the scheme set out in the Monuments Evaluation Manual, Gussage style settlements yield a class importance value of 33. This places the class just over half way up the range of possible values (max=64), emphasising the rarity and repreentativity of the class. It may be noted that a number of well known examples have already been lost - and the number available for preservation is therefore relatively small.