DigVentures

Name: DigVentures
Address: Barnard Castle, DL128PL, GB
Telephone: +443330113990
Price range: Not Applicable

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Do you love archaeology? Have you always wanted to go on a dig, but weren't sure how to make it happen? Then DigVentures' archaeological digs are for you!

We run crowdfunded and crowdsourced excavations that anyone can be part of.

31/10/2026

We can finally reveal how Max Klymenko, aka The Career Ladder Guy, ended up in a trench with us at Sacrewell! ⛏️
It was all thanks to our partnership with Nibble.

Nibble is an all-around knowledge app that encourages curiosity and lifelong learning. For this partnership, that meant a group of budding archaeologists got to have a go at something they had dreamed of for years, joining us on a real Roman excavation.

Max came along to try it for himself and meet the people swapping their everyday lives for a few days digging with us.

You can watch Nibble's (and Max's) vlog from the day on nibble account on YouTube, or via the link in our stories.
And if it inspires you to maybe join us next year - watch this space, the 2027 dig seasons drops very soon!

Also if you've been following our glass jar saga, you might recognise a few things in the vlog. 👀

Nibble Max Klymenko

30/10/2026

You probably know Pitt Rivers has a museum named after him. You may not know he bred a super cow that nearly killed a member of staff 🐄

Dirt Bags is BACK for season two - and we’re starting with the father of scientific archaeology. A man who recorded absolutely everything, including jokes that should probably have been allowed to die with him...

There are penny-farthings. There are llamas chasing sheep. There is an enormous inheritance, and a daughter who is thoroughly fed up with him.

But there’s also the much darker business of colonial collecting and the looted Benin Bronzes. What do we do with an archaeological hero whose insistence on context apparently stops at the auction-house door?

And when we ask whether we’d have him on a DigVentures excavation, he gets our first unanimous NO. You'll have to listen to find out why! Not even the father of scientific archaeology is safe from the Dirt Bags treatment.

Listen on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts - and give Dirt Bags a follow while you're there!

Whose reputation should we dig into next? 💭

👉 https://youtu.be/ZL-bs8HV6g4

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28/10/2026

The final entry in the jar of dirt saga! 🔍

We’ve finally reached the bottom of the micro-excavation - and this is the last outing for our Roman glass jar before we hand it over to our glass expert.

There’s more bone at the bottom, but no grave goods. We were hoping for a coin to help us date it...but sadly no luck!

So this is where we leave it - from spotting bits of glass in the ground at Sacrewell, to Jasmine carefully removing the last of the soil. Now we’ll see what our glass expert can tell us 🕵

Also, due to the accidental ASMR in this episode, Jasmine will be doing all due voiceovers from now on. (Jasmine doesn't know this yet 😉)

Thanks to everyone who’s watched along - we honestly didn’t expect so many of you to become this invested in a jar of soil 💚

23/10/2026

Is shared leadership the future? 💭

We’re delighted to bring together the co-leaders of Historic England and the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists for our next event, alongside DigVentures’ own Lisa Westcott Wilkins and Brendon Wilkins.

It’s a chance to hear from the people sharing leadership at the big organisations that help shape the future of heritage and archaeology - from protecting historic places, to setting professional standards and opening up participation.

Each pair has taken a different approach. We’ll explore what sharing the job makes possible: bringing different strengths to decisions, sharing the pressure and having someone alongside you when the difficult calls come.

We’ll also talk about what it takes to make those partnerships work, and what other organisations could learn from their experience.

Whether you lead a team, would like to, or are curious about how the organisations shaping our sector are run - join us, and bring your questions!

🔴 Who’s in Charge? Co-Leadership in Archaeology and Heritage
🗓 11 November 2026, 13:30-15:00 GMT

Register to join live, or receive a recording: https://buff.ly/LmWjcFB

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22/10/2026

Even Dirt Bags need a wash occasionally 🛁

We’re taking a week off the pod - but we’ll be back next week with SEASON TWO!

If you haven’t discovered Dirt Bags yet, where have you been?! It’s our comedy archaeology podcast, digging into the lives of the people who dug up the past before us.

Expect wild stories, questionable methods and lots of stolen credit. Also expect lots of colonialism (but no woke archaeology claims please, because we DID warn you!)

Check out all the episodes so far here - and catch up before we’re back ⏰️

Already listening? Who should we dig into next? Drop your suggestions in the comments. Preferably someone dead 💀

21/10/2026

Cow vs sheep: turf wars 🐄 🐑

You might think cows and sheep do essentially the same job, just at different heights. Eat grass. Stand around. Stare at you. But their table manners matter to the biodiversity of the land they graze...

Cows pull at tufts, creating gaps where wildflowers can grow. Sheep nibble close, helping to keep vegetation short, and scrub in check. Both can help wildlife thrive, in the right place.

At one Yorkshire Dales reserve, switching from sheep to cows helped to increase plant diversity by more than 41% over 18 years.

Knowing what a habitat needs to thrive starts with recognising what’s there. And that is exactly where you come in!

We’ve been using our Deep Time citizen science project to spot archaeology from above. Now, we’re widening the view to the habitats around it, exploring how the past has shaped the landscape and where we can help nature recover.

Join our next Deep Time mission to explore the Yorkshire Wolds from above, mapping habitats to help identify where nature recovery could make the biggest difference.

If your plant identification begins and ends with “grass”, don't worry - we provide full training, so you can take part from home at your own pace.

Join the mission: https://buff.ly/XGzqqE5

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📷️ Courtesy of DV's Darcey and Jonski. We love a good animal snoot!
ℹ️ https://buff.ly/AyWHq4g

Natural England

20/10/2026

To quote a courageous and distinguished adventurer, we've got a jar of dirt - so what did we do with it once it was out of the ground?

What's inside it? And what can it tell us about how it was used and who used it, almost 2,000 years ago? 🔍

Part three of our enormous Roman glass vessel discovery from Sacrewell is here!

This video includes references to human remains. If you'd like to find out more about this vessel and its contents, watch on!

--x--

Nibble

16/10/2026

🚨 NEW DIRT BAGS EPISODE! 🚨

Jane Dieulafoy went to war, excavated Persian palaces and faced down danger with a loaded gun.

Back in Paris, she needed permission to wear her trousers.

This week on Dirt Bags, we meet an archaeologist whose life veers between genuinely extraordinary and deeply questionable excavation moments.

Expect a burning ship, some spectacularly destructive artefact packing decisions, and we meet Barry (or his official government given name, Barrè bachy) - an excavation lamb whose after-dinner activities require some scrutiny.

There’s plenty to admire...and plenty to challenge!

Listen on YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts - and give Dirt Bags a follow while you're there!

👉 https://youtu.be/c_YSuT4hPHU

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14/10/2026

Roll up, roll up, Deep Time detectives - we’ve got something a little bit different for you today...

How well do you know your trees? 🧐

Our next mission will see us team up with Natural England and the North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre to map heritage and habitats from above, helping to identify where future nature recovery efforts are needed most.

Deciduous woodlands are full of different layers of vegetation, and can provide food and shelter for a wide range of wildlife. Their trees usually lose their leaves in autumn, returning nutrients to the soil as the leaves break down 🍂

In contrast, coniferous woodlands are dominated by trees with needle-like leaves, many of which are evergreen. Where trees grow close together, less sunlight reaches the woodland floor, and fallen needles can contribute to more acidic soil 🌲

But why does knowing the difference matter?

Mapping different woodland types helps us to understand and monitor the landscape, supporting efforts to track carbon storage, spot signs of disease, monitor habitat loss and even assess flood risk.

Swipe through and let us know which woodlands you think are deciduous, which are coniferous - and which aren't woodlands at all... 🥦

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13/10/2026

We’re back in Oxfordshire for our final dig of 2026! ⛏️

You could say that our Roman summer is segueing into an Iron Age autumn, as we return to investigate the Roman aisled hall-style building - and the even earlier Iron Age settlement beneath it - at the foot of the iconic Wittenham Clumps 🍂

What more can we uncover to help piece together the story of this site, from the Iron Age to the Roman period?

Will we learn more about our Roman building? Find clues to an even earlier structure? And what other traces of Iron Age life might emerge? We can’t wait to find out!

As this season's dig at Earth Trust gets underway, let's take a look back at some of last year’s fantastic finds 👉

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📷 A sherd of Roman mortarium - a bit like an ancient pestle and mortar. Can you spot the nail marks left by the potter’s fingers?
📷 A spindle whorl, likely used for spinning wool, left behind by someone who lived here long before the Roman period.
📷 A paw print preserved on a wet Roman tile, left by a dog we can just imagine getting under everyone’s feet as they worked!
📷 A shard of glass from a Roman cup. Whoever broke this blue-tinted, bubbly beauty must've been gutted!

Address

Barnard Castle
DL128PL

Telephone

+443330113990

Website

https://digventures.com/, https://digventures.com/calendar/, https://www.youtube.com/DigVentures, https://digventures.co

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