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2026 Magna Excavations

At Magna in 2023 we started a new Scheduled Monument Consent (SMC) you can learn more about our research and where we’ll be excavating throughout The Magna Project: 2023-2027 Excavations.

The Vindolanda Trust believes that archaeology and history are for everyone and to give as many people the opportunity to participate on our excavations, we limit the number of excavation periods a person can attend to one per person. This applies across both Vindolanda Trust excavations, those taking places at Vindolanda fort and those taking place at Magna fort as well as post excavation places. 

If you have questions about booking please take a look at our Excavation Booking FAQs webpage which has many helpful answers. 

What is included: 

Joining the team with an Excavate Only Place will give you 2 weeks on the excavations and includes an Excavation T-shirt. This would suit locals and those who wanted to find their own accommodation and can travel to site on a daily basis.

What is Involved in Excavating?

Find out more about what’s involved in volunteering the Vindolanda Trust excavations. What to bring, how fit you need to be and what a typical week is like for an excavator at the Vindolanda Trust.

What’s Involved in Excavating?

Cost of Excavation 2026:

Excavate Only Place: £275

We ask that all our volunteer excavators become Friends of Vindolanda before they arrive to excavate. This means they will be able to visit our sites outside of the excavations and will be invited to our annual Friends Day which rounds up the year and the excavations.

2026 Dates:

Each period is two weeks long and you may book a maximum of one period on any Vindolanda Trust Excavations. 

Period 1: 6th April – 17th April 2026

Period 2: 20th April – 1st May 2026

Period 3: 4th May – 15th May 2026

Period 4: 18th May – 29th May 2026

Period 5: 1st June – 12th June 2026

Period 6: 15th June – 26th June 2026

Period 7: 29th June – 10th July 2026

Period 8: 13th July – 24th July 2026

Period 9: 27th July – 7th August 2026

Period 10: 10th August – 21st August 2026

Period 11: 24th August – 4th September 2026

Period 12: 7th September – 18th September 2026

Booking Your Place:

Booking for the 2026 Magna Excavation will launch on 14th October 2025 at 12 noon.

Each ticket type has a different icon make sure to click on the correct ticket type for what you are after, tickets are non-transferable.

Excavate Only: Trowel only
Two weeks excavation at Magna Roman Fort and an Excavation T-Shirt.

Vindolanda Excavation places (released on 4th November) will be in the Vindolanda green.

Post-Excavation (released on 4th November) will be in grey.

If you cannot see any of these options displayed and are looking for the launch it means they are not yet available for purchase. If you cannot see them and are looking after the launch it may mean they are sold out.

Please note we are aware that the demand for our excavations places exceeds the number available. As a result we acknowledge there will be disappointed people who have not managed to secure a place this year.
If you have questions on the day please take a look at our Excavation Booking FAQs webpage which has many helpful answers.
We understand how frustrating it can be to try to get a place and not being successful. Our team are working very hard to make the booking process as streamlined and fair for everyone. However, there will always be disappointed people who haven’t managed to get a spot on the excavations due to the sheer demand.
Our staff are here to help you. The majority of our customers are wonderful, are respectful and polite. We ask that you please show our staff respect and treat them with kindness. They are only doing their job and will therefore not tolerate any sort of verbal abuse. The Vindolanda Trust reserves the right to remove people from the excavations who do not act in accordance with our values.

Veteran Draw

The Veteran Draw offers people who have excavated with us before, at either Vindolanda or Magna, a chance at priority booking for the Magna excavations. If you dug with us in 2025 for the first time – congrats, you are now a veteran. Each year we set aside a limited number of places per period. These are reserved so veteran volunteers get a chance to sign up to before the main launch of places.

The Veteran Draw is a ballot-like system: veterans’ names are randomly extracted, and those whose names are pulled out are contacted with a link for priority booking. 

This gives our valued veterans, an extra opportunity get a space on the digs. It also ensures the archaeological team can get the benefit of your experience, and no period is composed entirely by new excavators.

This year’s Veteran Draw has been completed and those whose names have been drawn notified. Priority booking for veterans who came out of the draw will take place on 7th October at 12 noon.