TRAC Previous Conferences

RAC/TRAC 2024 London

UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, WC1H 0AL

11^th-14^th April 2024

The Call for Papers is now closed.

Registration now open! Click here to register and buy tickets. 

We are pleased to invite you to 32^nd edition of the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. Every two years the TRAC and RAC are organised as a combined conference. This year the location for this will be London, with UCL being the host institution. The conference venue will be at the UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society located at 2O Bedford Way, WC1H 0AL. A full session program can be consulted here. 

This year the TRAC part of the combined conference will contain 9 themed sessions and one general session. As every year the fantastic TRAC community has proposed a great variety of themed sessions, targeting topics from post-pop-culture to post-materialism and post-colonialism. Digital tools and ‘Big Data’ have dedicated sessions, as critical methods of any future archaeologies, whilst Mario Puddu’s session is dedicated to the physical and academic labour of fieldwork, and its impact on the archaeologists’ body.  

We do realise that London is a very expensive city to travel to and the costs for the conference would exceed some potential delegates’ capability to attend. In order to offer support a small number of travel grants are available (up to 100£ each). For further details please click here. 

Conference proceedings are not published, but some of the papers appear as articles in the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal (TRAJ). 

TRAC 2024 Sessions 

27. Investigating Public Spaces with Digital Tools 

Alexander Braun (University of Cologne, alexanderbraun6@freenet.de), Kamil Kopij (Jagiellonian University, Kraków, k.kopij@uj.edu.pl)

28. Theoretical Approaches to Big data in Roman archaeology 

Penny Coombe (Getty Research Institute/University of Reading, pclcoombe@gmail.com), Nicky Garland (Archaeology Data Service, nicky.garland@york.ac.uk)

29. Going theoretical: Roman archaeology in South-eastern Europe 

Ewan Coopey (Macquarie University, ewan.coopey@hdr.mq.edu.au), Thomas J. Derrick (Macquarie University, tjderrick@gmail.com), Jere Drpić (Institute of Archaeology, Zagreb, drpic.jere@gmail.com), Kaja Stemberger Flegar (PJP d.o.o., kaja.stemberger@gmail.com)

30. Inclusion and Exclusion: Ritual Practice in the Roman World and Beyond 

Alessandra Esposito (King’s Digital Lab, alessandra.g.esposito@kcl.ac.uk), Jason Lundock (Full Sail University, jlundock@fullsail.edu), Kaja Stemberger Flegar (PJP d.o.o., kaja.stemberger@pjpdoo.com), David Walsh (Newcastle University, david.walsh@ newcastle.ac.uk)

33. For a fistful of Daleks: scholarship, popular culture, Roman world 

Ljubica Perinić (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts; bperinic@gmail.com), Anton Baryshnikov (Russian State University for the Humanities, baryshnikov85@gmail.com), Andrew Gardner (UCL, andrew.gardner@ucl.ac.uk)

34. For a Feminist, Postcolonial, Roman Archaeology 

Mauro Puddu (Venice, mauro.puddu@unive.it)

35. The Body of the (Roman) Archaeologist (Or, against ‘Fast-Archaeology) 

Mauro Puddu (Venice, mauro.puddu@unive.it)

36. Theorising arts and crafts 

Kaja Stemberger Flegar (PJP d.o.o., kaja.stemberger@pjpdoo.com), Jason Lundock (Full Sail University, lundock.jason@gmail.com)

37.Sexuality, Gender, and Roman Imperialism 

Sanja Vucetic (University of Sheffield, s.vucetic@sheffield.ac.uk) and Kelsey Madden

(University of Sheffield, ksmadden1@sheffield.ac.uk)

TRAC General Session

Acknowledgements 

This event was made possible thanks to generous support of the Society for Roman Studies, University College London (UCL) and the work of the TRAC Local Organising Committee, with the support of the TRAC Standing Committee. 

TRAC 2024 Survey Report can be found below:

The TRAC 2023 conference was held online, with some hybrid events, at University of Exeter from 27–29 April 2023. The conference had a dedicated webpage and featured the use of GatherTown as a main conference platform. 

Conference registration was handled via the University of Exeter Online Store. 

For a full list of abstract and conference program click here.  

Sponsors:
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Department of Archaeology and History, University of Exeter

Local Organising Committee:
Dragos Mitrofan (Chair)
Toni Clark
Alasdair Gilmour
Cristina Crizbasan
Jamie Bone
Felix Sadebeck

TRAC 2023 Survey Report can be found below:

The 30th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference

Split, Croatia (6^th – 8^th April 2022)

The conference will run alongside the Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC)

We are pleased to announce that TRAC 2020 will be held as live conference spring 2022.

**A limited call for papers is now open for select session as well a call for workshops, closing 4th December. For further details, see here.**

We are aware of the ongoing challenges and uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic:

• If you are a speaker and no longer able to give your paper, please let the session organizer know and email us (trac2020split@gmail.com).
• If you are no longer able to attend (as a session organiser, speaker or delegate) and would like a refund, please email Fiona (office@romansociety.org).

We are pleased to announce that the 2020 Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference will run alongside the Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC) in the historic centre of Split, Croatia, taking place from Wednesday 6^th April to Friday 8^th April. Three excursions will be offered throughout the conference, see here for details.

The conference will take place in a number of venues across the historic centre of Split, including portions of Diocletian’s palace, the Milesi Palace, and the Municipal Museum of Split.

The DRAFT programme is now available: RAC/TRAC Programme

Registration will open soon! If you have already registered you will receive further information closer to the conference.

By registering for a place at the Conference, you are automatically agreeing to the following Code of Conduct.

Please note: This is a participative conference where more than half the delegates are speaking, so all delegates are expected to pay the conference fee. This helps keep the fees as low as possible and also maximises participation and engagement.

For details of accommodation in Split see:

http://romansocietyrac.ac.uk/rac-2020/accommodation/

For travel guidance to Split see:

http://romansocietyrac.ac.uk/rac-2020/travel/

For information on the conference venues and the history of Split:

http://romansocietyrac.ac.uk/rac-2020/venues/

http://romansocietyrac.ac.uk/rac-2020/split-experience-history-culture/

For information regarding childcare services:

http://romansocietyrac.ac.uk/rac-2020/childcare/

NB: Information regarding RAC is available here: http://www.romansocietyrac.ac.uk/rac-2020/

The Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is pleased to announce TRAC 2019 will take place from Thursday 11th April until Sunday 14th April. The plenary lecture will be on the evening of the 11th, followed by two days of three conference sessions running in parallel, as well as an ‘un-conference’ session. On the Sunday 14th, delegates will have the choice of excursions to the late Roman Shore Forts of Reculver or Richborough, as well the Painted House in Dover.

Figure 1.Canterbury Cathedral

Situated on a hill overlooking the historic town of Canterbury, which contains its own Roman Museum, the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies is dynamic and diverse. Research in the department spans from the European Iron Age and the early civilisations of the Aegean to the world of Late Antiquity, while we have also recently hosted the Roman Finds Group conference and the Iron Age Research Student Symposium. Furthermore, fittingly, several of our lecturers and PhD students are part of the Centre for Heritage at Kent, for Canterbury boasts three UNESCO World Heritage sites in Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey, and St Martin’s Church. The department also maintains strong ties with Canterbury Archaeological Trust and local archaeology community groups, including Kent Archaeological Society.

The conference will take place in the Grimond building, which is centrally located on campus and is situated on a direct path from Canterbury West station that takes about 25 minutes to walk. Taxis and buses also run from both stations and can drop you at the university in around 10 minutes. Details for travelling to and around Canterbury can be found here.

Sessions will include:

Urban Religion in Roman North Africa
Organisers: Valentino Gasparini (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid), Asuman Lätzer-Lasar (Max Weber Centre for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, University of Erfurt)

Cross-channel relations: Kent and the Gallic coast in the Roman period
Organiser: Philip Smither (University of Kent)

Who am I – and if so how many? Identity research and research identity
Organisers: Sarah Scheffler (University of Leicester), Dominik Maschek (University of Oxford), Henry Clarke (University of Leeds), Daniel Van Helden (University of Leicester)

Resurgence of Native Styles and Practices in the Roman Provinces
Organiser: Peter S. Wells (University of Minnesota)

Sensory and cognitive approaches to Roman religious ritual(s)
Organisers: Blanka Misic (Champlain College), Abigail Graham (University of Warwick)

Whose history is this? Multivocal narratives of Roman archaeology
Organisers: Karl Goodwin (University of Kent), Antony Lee (University of Durham)

Un-Sacred Spaces? Decoration of Space for Ritual Purposes
Organisers: Carla Brain (University of Leicester), Adam Parker (Open University)

Revisiting the Limes: Space, place and experience on the Roman frontiers
Organisers: Anna Walas (University of Leicester), Joanne Ball (University of Liverpool)

What’s it worth? The value(s) of Roman material culture
Organisers: Jo Stoner (University of Kent), Boris Burandt (Goethe Universität)

General Session 1
Organisers: TRAC 2019 Local Committee

General Session 2
Organisers: TRAC 2019 Local Committee

The final programme for TRAC 2019 with all abstracts and pertinent information can be downloaded by clicking here.

The Call for Posters will remain open until Friday 15th March.

Register now! 

Registration for the conference, along with tickets for the conference meal, excursions, and campus accommodation are now available for purchase here. Registration for Early-Bird tickets will cease on Monday 28th January.

Conference accommodation will be situated in Keynes College on campus. For details, click here (note: you must book via the conference link above, not via the accommodation website).

For any questions, please contact: trac2019@kent.ac.uk

TRAC 2019 Local Organising Committee:

• Chair: Philip Smither (English Heritage/University of Kent)
• Vice-Chair: Karl Goodwin (University of Kent)
• Sophie Chavarria (University of Kent)
• Dr Jay Ingate (Canterbury Christchurch University)
• Dr Jo Stoner (University of Kent)
• Dr David Walsh (University of Kent)

Figure 2. West Gate Gardens, Canterbury. The Department and University look forward to welcoming you to Kent!

The 28th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference

Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK  Thursday 12th – Saturday 14th of April.

Figure 1.View of the town from Calton Hill

The School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh is pleased to host the 2018 Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference. The conference will run alongside the Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC) and it will take place from Thursday 12^th to Saturday 14^th of April. A plenary lecture will take place on the evening of the 12^th and the conference will be followed by an excursion to the Antonine Wall on the 15^th.

The University of Edinburgh has a long tradition of study of the Classical world, from the University’s foundation in 1582 to the vibrant School of History, Classics and Archaeology today. Roman archaeology is a particular strength of the School, and staff from Classics and Archaeology work closely together in this field. Edinburgh now boasts one of the largest concentrations of Roman archaeologists and historians in the UK. Furthermore, the School supports a growing and active number of PhD students working on Roman and Late Antique archaeological research with projects spreading from material culture to architecture and landscape archaeology. Additionally, we are fortunate to enjoy close contacts with colleagues from Historic Environment Scotland and the National Museum of Scotland, and we are grateful to them for their assistance in the organisation of RAC/TRAC 2018.

Figure 2. Edinburgh Castle from Princes Street Gardens

The conference will take place in the Appleton Tower on the Central University Campus which is located in the heart of Edinburgh, 5 minutes walk from the Royal Mile and 10 minutes walk from Waverley Station.

On the first day our 2018 RAC/TRAC conference, Dr. Elizabeth Fentress will give our plenary lecture at Appleton Tower, Thursday April 12th at 6.30pm, followed by a drinks reception in the beautiful National Museum of Scotland.

In the evening of Friday the 13th we will be hosting the famous TRAC party at Potterrow. This year the party will be a traditional Scottish ceilidh dance with a live ceilidh band and bar facilities.

In addition to the diverse array of sessions presented at the conference, you may enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Edinburgh’s city centre and a field trip on Sunday the 15th of April to the Antonine Wall led by Professor David Breeze and Dr. Rebecca Jones of Historic Environment Scotland. A coach will pick up attendees at Appleton Tower and take them on a tour of the highlights of the Antonine Wall, followed by a two-course lunch and a visit to the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. This trip will be £25 additional. Spaces on the trip are limited so book early!

Registration is now open! The online registration will be open till the 8th of April. Register here: Registration

If you need to register after the 8th of April please mail the organisers at hca-trac2018@ed.ac.uk.

Sheppard Frere Prize: 

The RAC and TRAC 2018 organising committees and the Archaeology Committee of the Roman Society are also pleased to announce that the winner of the best and most innovative student poster at RAC/TRAC 2018 will be awarded the Sheppard Frere Prize. This prestigious and generous prize includes a year’s free membership to the Roman Society, a £100 cheque and a book voucher worth £50.

Confirmed speakers:

There are 30 sessions, over 200 presentations and 56 posters confirmed for RAC/TRAC 2018. A full programme can be downloaded below together with the schedule of the conference:

Book of Abstracts

RAC-TRAC Schedule

The key information about the conference can be found here:

KEY INFORMATION

Please note: This is a participative conference where more than half the delegates are speaking, so all delegates are expected to pay the conference fee. This helps keep the fees as low as possible and also maximises participation and engagement.

More information on the School can be found here: http://www.ed.ac.uk/history-classics-archaeology

You can find the slides of today workshop on copyright and licenses  https://softwaresaved.github.io/software-licensing-workshop/licensingforresearchers.html

For details of places to visit and accommodation in Edinburgh see:

http://www.ed.ac.uk/visit/city

Any questions can be directed to the Organizing Committee at (hca-trac2018@ed.ac.uk)

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Edinburgh.

TRAC 2018 Local Organizing Committee:

• Lucia Michielin (Classics)
• David Rose (Classics)
• Carlos Cáceres Puerto (Archaeology)
• Martina Astolfi (Classics)
• Kathleen O’Donnell (Classics)

RAC 2018 Organising Committee: 

• Professor Jim Crow (Archaeology)
• Dr Ben Russell (Classics)
• Dr Manuel Fernandez-Götz (Archaeology)
• Dr Fraser Hunter (National Museum of Scotland)
• Dr Rebecca Jones (Historic Environment Scotland)
• Dr Joanne Rowland (Archaeology)
• Professor Eberhard Sauer (Classics)
• Dr Andrew Birley (Representative from the Roman Society Archaeology Committee)

The 27^th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference

Durham University, Durham, UK Tuesday 28 to Friday 31 March

Figure 1. Hadrian’s Wall will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2017.

TRAC Durham, organized and hosted by the Department of Archaeology and the Department of Classics and Ancient History, will be a multidisciplinary symposium of theoretical innovation in Roman scholarship. Located to the south of Hadrian’s Wall in Durham City, conference goers will be surrounded by a nuanced and lively Roman landscape, which this conference aims to engage with and celebrate—2017 marks the 30-year anniversary of Hadrian’s Wall as a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The 27th Annual TRAC Call for Papers is now open. The Call for Papers will close on the 18th of November. Paper, poster, and workshop submissions that critically engage with all aspects of current theoretical approaches to Roman archaeology are welcome. For information on the sessions click on the Conference Programme below.

Online and phone registration for TRAC 2017 has now closed. You can still register in person, but conference packs and spaces of the on-site lectures will be limited.

Conference Programme

Travel Information

Map of Durham

Figure 2.Durham Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

More details regarding Durham TRAC can be found at:

• http://trac.org.uk
• https://www.facebook.com/TRAC.committee/

TRAC 2017 Local Organizing Committee:

• Andrew Tibbs (Chair)
• Dr Amy Russell (Vice Chair)
• Rachel Chappel
• Emily Hanscam
• Madeline Line
• Fabio Luci
• Dr Brian Buchanan
• Dr Rob Witcher

Advisers to the Committee:

• Prof. Richard Hingley
• Dr Edmund Thomas

Contact trac.2017@durham.ac.uk for more information about this event.

Limited child care spaces are available through the Durham University Day Care Nursery
To make an enquiry, or to book a space, please contact the nursery through the link above, through emailing Penny Grace or call +44(0) 191 334 8153

Sponsors

Department of Archaeology, Durham University

Department of Classics and Ancient History, Durham University

Faculty of Social Sciences and Health, Durham University

The Roman Society

Barbican Research Associates

The 26th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference

Sapienza Università di Roma, 16 to 19 March 2016

In March 2016, for the first time, the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) will be held in the glorious city of Rome, alongside the Roman Society’s Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC). This page will provide full TRAC 2016 details as they are confirmed.

The Call for Papers is Now Open! — Note deadline of 18 December 2015

Click here for a full list of TRAC 2016 Sessions

Registration is now open here and a preliminary conference programme is available.

The TRAC 2016 Local Organising Committee, which organises TRAC’s annual conference in collaboration with the TRAC Standing Committee, consists of:

• Roberta Cascino (British School at Rome/University of Southampton)
• Francesco De Stefano (Sapienza, Università di Roma)
• Antonella Lepone (Sapienza, Università di Roma)
• Chiara Maria Marchetti (Università degli Studi di Verona)
• Jeremia Pelgrom (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome)

The 25th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference

University of Leicester, Friday 27 to Sunday 29 March 2015

Registration has now closed.

Figure 1. Jewry Wall, Leicester, once the west wall of the Roman city’s palaestra. The neighbouring Jewry Wall Museum will host a reception for delegates on Friday evening, kindly sponsored by the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society

2015 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the very first TRAC conference, and TRAC 2015 will be held at the School of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of Leicester from 27 to 29 March 2015.

We would like to thank both the Roman Finds Group and the Association for Environmental Archaeology for sponsoring sessions at this year’s conference.

Funding for bursaries have kindly been provided by the Roman Society and the Barbican Research Associates. We are also pleased to have the support of the Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society with organising the trips and the Reception.

As usual the conference will include a poster session, but this year there will also be a round of lightning presentations.

For more information on the city of Leicester and to find details of hotels that have agreed special rates for delegates please visit our partners at Leicestershire Promotions.

Conference Registration

Figure 2. Antiquarian illustration of a mosaic found in Leicester c. 1675 depicting Cyparissus, Cupid and the stag. © Society of Antiquaries of London. Used by permission.

Conference Programme

Travel Information

Things to do in Leicester

On social media please use the hashtag #TRAC25 and don’t forget to follow @TRAC_conference.

TRAC 2015 Local Organising Committee

contact by email

• Matthew J. Mandich, Chair
• Jane L. Ainsworth
• Carla A. Brain
• Thomas J. Derrick
• Sergio Gonzalez Sanchez
• Ian J. Marshman, Vice-Chairperson TRAC Standing Committee
• Giacomo Savani
• Daniel P. Van Helden
• Anna H. Walas
• Eleonora Zampieri

Sponsors

• Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
• Barbican Research Associates
• School of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of Leicester
• Leicestershire Archaeological & Historical Society
• Roman Finds Group
• Association for Environmental Archaeology

The 24th Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference

University of Reading, Friday 28th to Sunday 30th March 2014

TRAC 2014 was held alongside the Roman Archaeology Conference at the University of Reading. Booking for the joint conference is available through the University of Reading’s RAC/TRAC website here, but has now closed. ‘Early bird’ reduced rates were available until 31st December 2013.

The call for individual papers and sessions has now closed – the call for posters has also now closed.

Posters are invited on any aspect of Roman Archaeology.

We will have display boards in the Palmer Building atrium on the Friday and Saturday with space for 20 posters. The poster session will be on Friday lunchtime when authors will be encouraged to stand by their poster. Poster sessions are intended to give you the chance to present interesting ideas and start conversations with others. It is important to understand that your poster is neither a paper nor a slideshow. The poster is not there for the audience to just read, it is a visual aid for you to use in creating a quick engaging impromptu presentation, and to refer to in answering questions and fuelling discussion. Use this session as a way to make connections with people that you can continue through the open spaces or informally during the conference.

Your poster will only be considered if you have registered for the conference. If you are already giving a paper, preference may be given to delegates not already presenting.

To submit a poster for consideration, please send a PDF of the poster to trac2014@reading.ac.uk by 28 February 2014. If selected a copy of the poster, no larger than A1 (841 x 594 mm), will need to be delivered to the conference office by 10:30 am on the first full day of the conference.

Limited bursaries are available for speakers in TRAC sessions, kindly sponsored by the Roman Society and Barbican Research Associates.To apply for a bursary please send an email with supporting information to trac2014@reading.ac.uk. Bursaries will normally be limited to a maximum of £75, and preference will be given to students enrolled on post-graduate degree courses in the UK and abroad.

Reading Organising CommitteeDr Tom Brindle
Dr Emma Durham
Dr Martyn Allen
Dr Alex Smith
Dr John Creighton
Dr Hella Eckardt

The TRAC 2013 conference was held at King’s College London from 4–6 April 2013. The conference had a dedicated webpage- TRAC 2013 website (no longer active, see cache here)

Conference registration was handled via the King’s College London e-shop.

Sponsors:
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Barbican Research Associates
Department of Classics, King’s College London
School of Arts and Humanities, King’s College London
Local Organising Committee:
Jason Lundock (Committee Director)
Caroline Barron
Sally Cottam
Yukiko Kawamoto
John Pearce
Hannah Platts
Charlotte Tupman
Lily Withycombe-Taperell
Federico Ugolini
Will Wootton
Justin Yoo

2012 – Frankfurt am Main, Germany (joint with RAC) — www.trac2012.com
2011 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2010 – Oxford, UK (joint with RAC)
2009 – Ann Arbor, MI USA (joint with US-RAC); Southampton, UK
2008 – Amsterdam, Netherlands
2007 – London, UK (joint with RAC)
2006 – Cambridge, UK
2005 – Birmingham, UK (joint with RAC)
2004 – Durham, UK
2003 – Leicester, UK (joint with RAC)
2002 – Canterbury, UK
2001 – Glasgow, UK (joint with RAC)
2000 – London, UK
1999 – Durham, UK (joint with RAC)
1998 – Leicester, UK
1997 – Nottingham, UK (joint with RAC)
1996 – Sheffield, UK
1995 – Reading, UK (joint with RAC)
1994 – Durham, UK
1993 – Glasgow, UK
1992 – Bradford, UK
1991 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK