Goodbye to the Archaeological Resource Centre at St Saviour's Church, York. Hello Dig, the future for York's past, taking shape in a former church in St Saviourgate.

York Archaeological Trust's new interactive experience goes active from March 24, billed as a "world first" in the manner of the ground-breaking Jorvik Viking Centre. A dust-covered Charles Hutchinson digs deeper.

What is the essence of Dig?

"Visitors to Dig will be able to take part in a real excavation, discover real artefacts from ancient civilisations and also understand how archaeologists recreate the past.

"We'd been running ARC since 1990 and we moved it to Barley Hall in Coffee Yard last June," says York Archaeological Trust's head of attractions, Sarah Maltby. "We thought it was high time we did something with the ARC site. It was successful - we were getting 30,000 visitors a year, and we get 400,000 at Jorvik - but 80 per cent were school children.

"Although the schools did enjoy their visits and the feedback was excellent, we did feel we could do more. We had schools saying, 'We love handling objects but can we go on an excavation?'."

What was the trust's response?

"ARC took up archaeology from the point when finds were made. With Dig, we wanted to take it from the beginning, from finding the artefacts and showing what we did with them," says Sarah.

"Archaeology has become more popular through programmes such as Time Team, and people now want to get involved with it, but on a practical level you can't take a five-year-old child on a dig, so we thought, 'how do we recreate it?'.

"We also wanted to show that there's a lot more to it than just digging. There's the aerial photography, the research, the gamut of archaeological processes.

"We were looking to back up everything we do at Jorvik, making Dig a fun experience but also authentic, rather than being a theme park."

What will happen at DIG?

People of all ages will have the chance grab a trowel and dig for real objects from four of York's historical sites to discover about York's past.

Visitors will be restricted to 200 at any one time, with individual groups of no more than 30 people, setting off at half-hourly intervals on a two-hour visit. They will start in the briefing room where they will be given the inside track on digging for finds and be kitted out with the tools of the archaeological trade.

From there they will walk into the trench area, where four sites - Roman, Viking, medieval and Victorian - are exposed for visitors to dig to discover actual finds.

Here visitors can find proof of why Romans were keen gamblers and what they used to clean their ears at their fortress in Blake Street. Or learn of the grave goods buried with a medieval monk at Fishergate and the contents in the remains of the Victorian privy at Hungate.

Where do the visitors go next?

They head to three themed areas to explore archaeological techniques through hands-on activities. In 'the field', budding archaeologists will record their finding of the medieval burial; reconstruct Roman wall plaster based on their finds from the dig; measure plans of Victorian houses and compare them with how we live now.

In the Labworks area, scientific archaeological techniques will be used to understand mysteries of the past, including the analysis of human remains and how they died, be it in battle or from a deadly disease. A giant core soil can be examined to reveal the bugs and dirt found in a typical Victorian house.

The Study Zone is a wood-panelled researcher's library, where visitors can discover how different writers through the ages described the Vikings; the Victorians, for example, believed they were savages with horns in their head.

Who will be on site?

Professional teams will present the most recent discoveries from York and the surrounding area; visitors will be the first to witness cutting-edge evidence from the latest digs. Also, holographic figures in the three themed areas will be on hand with details.

Upstairs will hold classrooms, workshops and family history research, and Dig can be used as a corporate venue and for private parties.

What will be the centrepiece of Dig?

The "grand reveal" is a 3D audiovisual show that takes visitors on a tour of the original digs represented in the trenches at Dig. This show will reveal how each area would have looked during the periods studied. As each hologram depicts a scene, the scene builds up: the first display of its kind because the images move.

How has Dig been funded?

"It was one of those cases of lucky timing," says Sarah. "We were able to apply to the Millennium Commission's ReDiscover fund, as well as the Wolfson Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, and it was the Millennium Commission that gave us £750,000.

"York Archaeological Trust matched it with £250,000 and we've also had smaller grants from Yorkshire Bank and the Garfield Weston Foundation."

Who has designed Dig?

RMA Ltd, from Pinewood Studios, the home of the Bond movies. Managing director Nigel Knight says: "We've twice built Jorvik, and we're now building Dickens World in Chatham. We've been involved in York projects for 21 years, and we had to compete against Americans, but we beat them I'm glad to say!"

Dig will be open seven days a week from March 24, 10am to 5pm, last admission 4pm. Bookings must be made in advance on 01904 543403. Joint tickets with Jorvik will be available.