Hi! Your Childhood Dream Is Calling. Dig It Up!
Unearth a Roman villa frozen in time since the 1970s, no digging experience required!
Last updated: Aug 21, 2026
Read time: 3 min
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By Nibble Team
Nibble's Editorial Team
Our editorial team loves exploring how things work and why. We’re guided by the idea that people stay curious throughout their lives — they just need engaging stories and ideas to reignite that curiosity.
This autumn, Nibble is taking a small crew on a real Roman villa excavation in the East of England. No experience needed, just the curiosity you've you had as a kid.
Ever dreamed of becoming an archaeologist?
Digging carefully through the soil and being the first person to touch something hidden for thousands of years. This autumn, we're pulling it back out.
Nibble is teaming up with one of the UK's most-loved creators and the professional archaeologists at DigVentures for Dig It Up! — a real excavation of a Roman villa in the Nene Valley, in the East of England.
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Who's behind it
Dig It Up! is a collaboration between Nibble, the professional field team at DigVentures, and one of the UK's best-known creators — who we'll introduce soon. 👀
DigVentures are the people who've spent years making archaeology accessible to anyone. They're a Chartered Institute for Archaeologists Registered Organisation, and they've run public excavations everywhere from Flag Fen to Lindisfarne, working with the British Museum and universities across the country.
This site has unfinished business
In the 1970s, engineers laying a water pipe across a Nene Valley farm cut straight through a vast Roman villa and iron-working site on the bank of the River Nene — painted plaster walls, heated floors, at least eight smelting furnaces. And below the Roman layers, traces of Bronze and Iron Age life going back thousands of years.
Here's the part that gives us goosebumps: then the dig stopped, and the villa's story was left unfinished for fifty years. Now DigVentures is going back with us to reopen the ground and finally piece it together. A mysterious little Roman terracotta head, fire-charred floors, a chamber possibly used for drying grain — that's what's turned up so far. What's still down there is the whole point.
Nobody knows what's down there
That's the magic of a dig: until the first trowel hits the soil, it's all still a mystery. More of the villa? A furnace? Something older, hidden beneath the Roman layer? Whoever's in the trench could be the one to find it — and this time, that could be you.
It's taking place around September 29–October 4, 2026 (we'll confirm the exact dates closer to the time), and it'll all be filmed for Nibble's YouTube channel.
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What you'd do
- Join the DigVentures archaeologists on a real Roman villa excavation.
- Share why you wanted to be part of the experience for Nibble's YouTube channel.
- Star in a short TikTok, filmed with the UK's favorite creator joining the dig.
To join, you'll need to:
- Be a UK resident aged 18 or over.
- Be available to join us in person for the full three filming days.
- Be comfortable being filmed and appearing in Nibble content.
No archaeology experience is required. Curiosity is the only prerequisite.
We’ll cover:
- Accommodation during filming.
- Food on site.
- Your transfer to and from the excavation from the nearest town (Peterborough).
You'll know exactly where you stand before you commit to anything.
Fancy it?
Applying takes about 3 minutes. Tap below, answer a few quick questions, and if you're a good fit for the crew, we'll get in touch with you directly.
Participation is voluntary. The survey is run by our service provider, Survicate, and your responses are handled in line with our Privacy Policy
Published: Aug 21, 2026
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