I was just watching a TV show about this famous hill, and its (alleged0 mystic associations. The hill to me looks like a man-made mound-is it natural? Has anyone ever excavated it?
It’s completely natural. There are a number of terraces down the sides, which may be manmade, though it’s also possible that these are natural.
The major excavation on the Tor was in 1964-6 by Philip Rahtz, who’s gone on to devote a good bit of his career to researching the surrounding area. The book he wrote with Lorna Watts, Glastonbury: Myth & Archaeology (1993; Tempus, 2003), is recommended as the best sensible account of the history of the town and its landscape. It naturally includes a chapter on the archaeology of the Tor.