An interdisciplinary investigation into how digital technologies reshape the production, integration, and interpretation of historical knowledge.
Understanding the DigiDeultum Project
Introducing DigiDeultum
“Upgrading the Historical Narrative: From Deultum to DigiDeultum” explores how digital technologies are reshaping the study and interpretation of the past. The project asks a central question: whether digital approaches can transform historical research itself, not only its methods, but also its outcomes.
Situated at the intersection of archaeology, history, and digital humanities, the project combines established scholarly practices with computational tools to develop new frameworks for understanding cultural heritage.
Project Information
Official name
BNSF КП-06-Н80/7, 08.12.2023 “Upgrading the Historical Narrative: From Deultum to DigiDeultum”
Duration
2023–2026 (3 years)
Research Organization
National Archaeological Institute with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Funding
Bulgarian National Science Fund
Historical Research in a Digital Context
The expansion of digital infrastructures and large-scale research datasets is fundamentally changing the conditions of work in the humanities. These developments increase analytical potential, but also require a reconsideration of how historical knowledge is constructed.
DigiDeultum investigates whether digital environments enable the emergence of new research questions, interpretative models, and forms of synthesis. It also examines how these transformations influence historical awareness, cultural identity, and the perception of heritage in contemporary society.
Objectives
The project is based on a comparative framework between traditional and digitally enhanced approaches to historical research. Its main objectives are:
1
To assess the capacity of digital methods to generate new historical knowledge
2
To design a digital environment for integrating and analysing heterogeneous cultural heritage data
3
To develop an interdisciplinary research model integrating humanities and computational sciences
4
To contribute to the development of interoperable standards, tools, and terminology
These objectives support the creation of a transferable research model applicable to other archaeological and historical contexts.
The Case Study: Deultum
The research is grounded in Deultum, an ancient Roman colony and one of the most significant archaeological sites in present-day Bulgaria. Its long research history and rich archaeological record provide an ideal foundation for methodological comparison.
By reinterpreting Deultum through digital approaches, the project develops the concept of DigiDeultum—a digitally constructed research environment that enables the integration of diverse datasets and the analysis of complex historical processes in a unified framework.
A New Research Framework
DigiDeultum introduces a model of integrated historical research in which data, tools, and interpretation operate within a connected digital ecosystem. The project develops a dedicated platform that links heterogeneous sources and enables their comparative and computational analysis.
This approach addresses key challenges in the field, including disciplinary fragmentation, data interoperability, and the need for sustainable research infrastructures.
The Numismatic Perspective
Perceiving Time
- Posing anew the question of identifying precisely the beginning.
- Implementing innovative quantificational methodology in the interpretation of the numismatic materials from Deultum.
- Implementing the possibilities of LOD and the quantity of internationally compiled numismatic data from the mint of Deultum.
- Explain why the coinage produced by the local mint still does not seem to dominate any of the finds from the different areas of the colony itself. Haven’t the archaeological excavations found its respective stratigraphic layers yet?
- What is the time span of the numismatic data from the site, and how can it be interpreted?
- Refinement of the concept of the chronologising role of coin finds within an archaeological site.
- etc.
Connecting spaces
- Relationship between the GIS survey data of the region and the coin finds.
- Comparative analysis of the finds from the different archaeological sectors of the site: necropolises, baths, fortifications, etc.
- Maping the places of origin of the coins not produced by the local mint.
- Reconstruction of the individual spaces – correlate and interpret the coin finds with other grave goods.
- Identification of iconographic spaces by tracing designs from numismatic objects appearing on another type of materials.
- etc.
Connecting Research and Society
DigiDeultum places strong emphasis on the relationship between academic research and the wider public. In a context of increasing information complexity, access to structured and reliable knowledge about cultural heritage is essential.
The project contributes to this goal by promoting open access to research data and supporting the digital transformation of museum environments. It strengthens the role of cultural heritage institutions as active mediators between scientific knowledge and society.
Through these activities, DigiDeultum fosters more informed public engagement with history and reinforces the relevance of cultural heritage in contemporary social and cultural contexts.
The content of this page is based on the article Grozdanova, L. (2026). From Deultum to DigiDeultum: The Concept, Archaeologica Bulgarica, Supplement 10, Deultum.