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Short Abstract

Deep Time unites archaeology and ecology through citizen-powered Earth Observation mapping. By treating landscapes as living tapestries of past and present, participants reveal how history, nature, and technology coalesce to shape inclusive, sustainable futures.

Abstract

Deep Time exemplifies how citizen science bridges past, present, and future by dissolving professional silos between cultural and natural heritage. Developed by DigVentures, the platform empowers citizens to map archaeological and ecological features from satellite and LiDAR data, revealing how centuries of human activity have shaped today’s biodiversity—and how these histories can guide future restoration.

Across nine missions spanning 5 300 km² of UK landscape, 6 500 participants mapped over 70 000 heritage and habitat features. Each mission intertwined temporal perspectives: citizens traced ancient field systems, ghost ponds, and shadow woods—historic imprints now informing reforestation, peatland repair, and habitat creation. By learning to “read” landscapes as palimpsests, participants gained new appreciation of how ecological recovery depends on cultural memory.

The programme fostered intergenerational learning (ages 17–89) and inclusion (50 % newcomers, 15 % non-white participants), with 68 % reporting stronger connection to place and 92 % inspired to act for the environment. Working with the National Trust, National Landscapes, and Wildlife Trusts, citizen-generated data now informs both nature recovery strategies and heritage management.

Deep Time demonstrates that heritage and habitat are two sides of the same living system. By uniting collective intelligence, digital technologies, and local knowledge, it offers a new model of landscape stewardship—one that connects historical understanding with future sustainability, and people with the deep-time stories written across the places they inhabit.

https://digventures.com/projects/deep-time/