Lindisfarne: Beyond the Raid

After 10 years of fieldwork, we have more than 1,600 artefacts, over 100 burials, and nearly 400 environmental samples – all of which need to be thoroughly studied so that we can tell the story of who lived on Lindisfarne before, during, and after the Viking raid.

Support a new era of research

Over the last 10 years, we’ve crowdfunded 10 seasons of fieldwork in partnership with Durham University, where over 1,700 people from around the world have taken part to help us find the answers.

Together we’ve collected over 1,600 artefacts, uncovered more than 100 burials, and gathered thousands of clues to learn more about early medieval Lindisfarne. And thanks to the support of our community, we’ve been able to share our discoveries and publish our findings online every step of the way.

But we know we’ve just scratched the surface, and there is so much more to learn.

Our goal now is to carry out the analysis that will allow us to dive deep into the details and emerge with whole new narratives about this iconic moment in history – and we need your help to do it.

We’re assembling an incredible team of specialists, including osteologists, illustrators, and scientists to examine the evidence.

And we want you to be able to follow their process of discovery, work alongside them as we piece together the clues, and help us share the stories we uncover in bold and imaginative new ways.

Love discovering new history? Support this project and you’ll have the amazing opportunity to be part of one of the most exciting new retellings of Britain’s past. Together, we really can write a whole new chapter in Britain’s story.

The Campaigns

We’ve gathered the evidence, now you can help bring these buried stories back to life.

We’re launching three crowdfunding campaigns to support this vital research, each focused on a different area of knowledge: the burials, the artefacts, and the wider landscape.

You can support one, two, or all three campaigns to help learn more about medieval Lindisfarne.

By helping us reach our goal, you will directly contribute to the team of experts carrying out this research. Your support will allow us to collaborate with leading specialists who can examine, analyse, and identify vital details from our discoveries, transforming the long-lost medieval Lindisfarne into a legacy.

Plus, you’ll also be helping us share knowledge by making the results open, accessible, and available to anyone who wants to learn more.

Campaign 1: The People of Lindisfarne

Help us learn more about the early medieval population of Holy Island.
Support now!

Campaign 2: Life on Lindisfarne

Help us delve into the daily lives and experiences of the people of Lindisfarne.
Coming soon…

Campaign 3: Lindisfarne Reenvisioned

Help us digitally reconstruct medieval Lindisfarne.
Coming soon…

The clues so far…

After 10 seasons of excavations, we’ve started to tell the story of the people who lived and died here, found evidence for some of the earliest buildings on the island, and collected thousands of clues that can tell us more about the everyday lives of the early medieval population.

A significant aspect of our work has focused on a cemetery where we uncovered over 100 burials, including those of men, women, and children. These findings show that the cemetery served not only the monastery’s monks but members of the wider medieval community.

>With many individuals presenting evidence of trauma, disease, and injury, it raises several questions: did people travel to Lindisfarne, known as a place of healing, for medical treatment? Did life on the island lead to these injuries, illnesses, and death? Have we found tangible evidence for the violence associated with the Viking raid?

Our excavations on Lindisfarne have also revealed a range of early medieval artefacts. Among our discoveries are intricate stone carvings, bone combs with runic inscriptions, namestones, and personal items like rings, coins, and pins.

Some of our rarer finds include whale bones, a bear claw, a necklace or rosary made from fish bones and, of course, the stunning blue glass king piece.

But what about the monastery itself? We’ve uncovered a series of enigmatic walls, a carefully constructed and well-preserved stone drain, two mysterious stone boxes, and a large ditch running beneath our entire site.

Plus, evidence of metalworking and burnt material found in the trenches could suggest the presence of a smithy. Could this be where the Lindisfarne monks created reliquaries and other religious objects for the famous monastery?

Imagine what we could learn about these discoveries with your support.

How you can get involved

If you’ve ever wanted to be part of a team making groundbreaking discoveries about the past, this is your chance to make that happen.

Archaeology goes far beyond digging; it’s just one step in a long journey of telling the stories of those long forgotten. The next and final stage of our Lindisfarne project is to examine, analyse, and report on everything we’ve collected across a decade of digging.

To make this research possible, we’re launching three crowdfunding campaigns that you can support:

Campaign 1: The People of Lindisfarne 

Help us learn more about the early medieval population of Holy Island.
Support now!

Campaign 2: Life on Lindisfarne

Help us delve into the daily lives and experiences of the people of Lindisfarne.
Coming soon…

Campaign 3: Lindisfarne Reenvisioned

Help us digitally reconstruct medieval Lindisfarne.

Coming soon…

Support from a distance

Support our mission by crowdfunding the full analysis of a burial, contributing to a radiocarbon date, or helping protect our finds for future generations through conservation.

We’ll send you regular updates about our research, behind-the-scenes glimpses into what happens after the digging ends, plus the opportunity to meet our experts and learn more about our discoveries.

Not only will you be helping make invaluable scientific research possible, but you’ll be directly contributing to making the results open, accessible, and available to anyone who wants to learn more.

Join us in person

Get hands-on by joining a workshop with our leading experts. Step into their shoes and learn how they analyse finds and extract crucial clues that tell us so much more about the past.

Whether you’ve dug with us before, have joined the Finds team, or are brand new to archaeology, our workshops will give you the unique opportunity to be a part of the archaeological process that usually happens behind closed doors.

Learn from the experts, share your knowledge, and contribute to this important project that will tell the story of Lindisfarne.

Badge of Honour

Starting with contributions of £50 or more, we’ll send you a beautifully embroidered badge as our way of saying thank you!

Each of our three campaigns features a uniquely designed badge representing its area of research.

Whether you’re drawn to the stories revealed through the analysis of human remains, fascinated by daily life on Lindisfarne through artefact studies, or excited about bringing early medieval Lindisfarne back to life through digital reconstruction, there’s a badge that celebrates your support for understanding Lindisfarne beyond the Viking raid.

Collect all three badges by supporting each campaign and you’ll have the complete set.

Sharing the knowledge

As always, your support will help us make the results of our 10-year-long project freely available to everyone online. We’ll ensure our work and collaboration with our team of experts makes a real contribution to knowledge about early medieval Lindisfarne.

Reports

It’s our archaeological responsibility and standard practice to compile our findings into a report.

However, it’s DigVentures’ mission to connect people with archaeology, so we put our reports online as soon as they’re ready.

By making our data free and accessible, we can share this remarkable site with researchers, archaeologists, and anyone with an interest in Lindisfarne.

Virtual Museum

We also know that there’s so much more to archaeological reporting than a written document.

We have 10 years’ worth of images, videos, and 3D models that all play a key role in telling the whole story of both Lindisfarne and the excavation.

Your support will also go towards the creation of a Virtual Museum where you can retrace the progress of the dig, get an up-close look at our discoveries, and learn how a worldwide community came together to uncover one of the most important sites in the UK.