Abstract :
The review paper re-conceptualizes archaeology as an integrated inferential system in which molecular, computational, and geospatial evidence is co-produced through interoperable workflows governed by enforceable and transparent standards. Drawing on consolidating frontiers of – ancient DNA, paleoproteomics, ancient pathogens and microbiomes, sedimentary ancient DNA, landscape-scale remote sensing, artificial intelligence for survey and archival analysis, climate risk to heritage, decolonizing and repatriation practice, autonomous and remotely operated underwater archaeology, and isotopic provenance – it demonstrates how these domains now operate as mutually reinforcing pipelines rather than isolated specialties. A scoping methodology based on evidence mapping is operationalized through a unified codebook and eligibility grid that institutionalize minimal controls, authentication diagnostics, and structured uncertainty regimes. The paper delineates analytical architectures spanning damage-aware sequencing, peptide authentication, capture versus shotgun rationales, LiDAR and radar physics, hyperspectral mineralogies, transformer-based detection, probabilistic map stacking, and hierarchical Bayesian assignment on isotopic baselines. Uncertainty is systematically partitioned and propagated from bench to policy through calibrated error modelling, posterior concentration, and sensitivity analyses. Governance is theorized as infrastructural, encompassing consent architectures, access tiers, machine-readable provenance, and portable decision logs. Five integrative tables stabilize admissibility criteria, molecular workflows, sensor-task metric pairings, provenance decision thresholds, and governance-risk matrices. Collectively, these components yield an inferential frame-work that translates residues, point clouds and seabed archives into historically disciplined claims that are scientifically robust, socially legitimate, and actionable for conservation. It advances integration by design, interoperability through persistent identifiers, uncertainty literacy via transparent model documentation, and justice through community and climate-informed triage, positioning archaeology as a globally interoperable and ethically grounded science for accelerating challenges of twenty-first century.

Keywords :
Paleoproteomics, Paleogenomics, Microbiome Archaeology, Sedimentary Ancient DNA, LiDAR, Synthetic Aperture Radar, Machine Learning in Archaeology, Isoscapes, Strontium Isotopes.

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