Good question – and here’s your answer!

Digital Dig Team, our new HLF-funded project, is another step forward for DigVentures on our mission to put ‘archaeology in your hands’! But seriously – what does it mean? What’s in it for YOU if you decide to join the Digital Dig Team by supporting the Leiston Abbey campaign?

We know that you work hard for your money, and there has to be a good reason to put some of your hard-earned dosh behind our crowdfunding campaigns for archaeology. Digital Dig Team is totally different from our previous work, incredibly exciting, and we think it’s going to change the way archaeology is done in the UK- and the world (why not dream big?)!

It’s easy: Digital Dig Team will mean that we can report our primary data from the trenches every day in real time, and all of our Venturers will have access to it. No need to wait a year for the site report: you can see the information as it happens!

One of the biggest benefits to our crowdfunded and crowdsourced approach is that it gives everyone the chance to be involved in archaeology. Have you always wanted to try archaeology, or be involved in an archaeological project? Now is your chance: our Venturers can join the DV team and support our archaeological research for as little as £10, and all the money goes to making the archaeology and post-ex analysis happen.  We’ve met so many fantastic supporters since we launched Flag Fen Lives in 2012 – thanks, guys! We couldn’t have done it without you.

DV’s loyal army of ‘armchair archaeologists’  (people who fund us at the digital-only level but don’t join us on site to dig) are a huge part of our team, and we do our best to make it possible for them to look over our shoulders through the videos, blog posts and social media updates that we share from site. Digital Dig Team will make it possible to involve them in our work even more.

Part of the Digital Dig Team project is the development of a customised digital Archaeological Recording Kit, which will be an online version of the traditional paper context sheets used by archaeologists. No more scribbling on clipboards – our team will be standing over the trenches with iPads, recording the vital information that we’ll need in post-ex including photos, plans and information about who did the digging. Digital Dig team means that we’ll be putting our excavation online, so that we can work on it and most importantly – share the information with our Venturers and expert team.

Everyone who digs with us will learn how to use this system, and everyone (EVERYONE!)  who funds our campaign will receive a password to look at this primary data online through our custom-made website, from the very moment that it’s recorded by the archaeologist.

Each Venturer – from £10 on up – will have a profile within the system that shows they were part of our team and helped us to make this research happen. It’s a fantastic way for us to get to know our Venturers better, and to show the world the amazing team that helps to make DV archaeology happen.

Another benefit of Digital Dig Team is that archaeological site reports take a looooooong time to write, and sometimes they can’t be released to the public as soon as we would like – and this is particularly so with Scheduled Ancient Monuments like Flag Fen and Leiston Abbey (we know you’re waiting, peops!). Digital Dig Team will enable us to share our information with our funders almost immediately – you can see everything, and follow the dig as it happens every day.

What’s not to like? We’ll still be posting from site every day, but Digital Dig Team takes it to a whole new level for us, as the archaeologists, and for you – our team. See you at Leiston this July!

Do you want to join Digital Dig Team? Now is your chance – but don’t delay: our campaign ends 31^st May! Click here to join

Ps There’s also something happening for kids called CyberDig….but we’ll tell you more about that later!