DigVentures enables public participation in archaeology, heritage, and nature recovery.
Since 2012, our team has pioneered the use of crowdbased methods to increase opportunities for real people to take part in real research and make a positive impact on natural and cultural heritage at local, landscape, and even national levels.
We focus on bringing communities together to learn, have fun, and make meaningful scientific contributions through digital, field-based, and hybrid projects – from hands-on archaeological discoveries, to massive online searches using Earth Observation Data.
We are a Chartered Institute for Archaeologists Registered Organisation, and the first-ever CIfA Accredited Fieldschool.
We are also proud winners of the Europa Nostra Heritage Innovation Prize, and recipients of an honorary mention from the EU Prize for Citizen Science 2025!
We started in 2012 with two archaeologists and a dog.
In 2012, our small but mighty team launched the world’s first-ever crowdfunded and crowdsourced archaeological excavation. It was a huge success – and we didn’t stop there. Since then, we have run hundreds of projects and proven time and again that our model brings together the best of what archaeology has to offer in terms of research and work quality with the flexibility of digital methods and power of public participation.
The wild ride we started in 2012 is picking up pace as our model of working with the public becomes more and more popular within archaeology and beyond. We’ve got new projects and strategic partnerships developing in the UK, Europe, and the United States, and plenty more tricks up our sleeve to keep surprising, exciting – and most of all, involving – as many people as possible in what we do. Hope to see you on site soon!
In 2022, our work grew into nature recovery...
Our model of working around archaeology and heritage began to catch the eye of national organisations dealing with landscape and nature recovery. As the need to connect communities across the divide of natural and cultural heritage has become increasingly urgent, we put our minds to helping the nature recovery sector achieve similar results.
In 2022, we launched Deep Time – a powerful but friendly platform – that enables communities around the world to search for anything from ancient sites to rare habitats and monitor vast areas in ways that support landscape recovery programmes.
Developed with support from Nesta, Natural England, and the Heritage Innovation Fund, we’ve begun a whole new journey that has already achieved phenomenal results.
Clients and Partners
We’re working with organisations of all shapes and sizes – from public bodies with nationwide coverage to community groups with a grassroots base.
