Digital Archaeology: A Subdiscipline of Archaeology Requiring Greater Attention

Abstract

In recent decades, the rapid advancement of digital technologies has brought profound transformations across numerous fields, including archaeology. Digital archaeology - also referred to as computational or cyber archaeology - has emerged as a crucial methodological approach, offering substantial benefits for the study, documentation, and preservation of cultural heritage. These benefits encompass heritage conservation and reconstruction, detailed analytical research, improved access to and dissemination of information, educational outreach and public engagement, as well as enhanced analytical and predictive capacities. Digital archaeology has become an  indispensable tool throughout the archaeological workflow, from survey and excavation to post excavation analysis and reporting. It has fundamentally reshaped the traditional notion of “excavation as destruction” into that of “excavation as digitization.” Nevertheless, in Vietnam, digital archaeology remains underdeveloped in terms of training, research capacity, data accessibility, and information sharing. Accordingly, greater investment in appropriate resources is necessary to enable digital archaeology to develop commensurately with its role as a recognized subdiscipline of archaeology, particularly within the broader context of Vietnam’s ongoing digital transformation.