Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference

The Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) is an academic organisation and conference for the discussion of archaeological theory in Roman archaeology.

Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC)

Logo of TRAC
Formation	March 1991; 34 years ago (1991-03)
Founder	Eleanor Scott
Founded at	University of Newcastle
Purpose	Promotion of a theoretical discourse in Anglophone Roman archaeology
Website	http://trac.org.uk/

History

The first Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference was organised by Eleanor Scott and was hosted by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Newcastle in March 1991.^[1][2] The conference had been created by Scott to address the shortcomings of traditional Roman archaeology through critical, theory-driven discussions inspired by the Theoretical Archaeology Group conferences.^[3] The conference was a success and, due to interest, became an annual conference hosted by different archaeology departments annually across the UK, Europe and North America.^[4]

Since 1995, the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference have partnered with the Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC), which is organised by the Roman Society. The collaboration began at University of Reading, establishing a biannual arrangement where the RAC played a role in helping to organise TRAC.^[5]

TRAC initially concentrated on Romanisation debates, especially in the 1990s. Since the early 2000s, however, discussions have increasingly shifted to post-imperial and post-colonial perspectives of the Roman world.^[6] Since the 2010s, TRAC has attempted to expand its outreach and appeal internationally.^[7]

Many TRAC participants are early career researchers or postgraduates who present their own original research. Andrew Gardner highlighted a gender imbalance at TRAC in 2005,^[8] but Eleanor Scott later noted that TRAC provided equal opportunities to female archaeologists.^[9]

TRAC was initially published as conference proceedings^[10] but became an online open access journal, the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal, under the Open Library of Humanities from 2017 onwards.^[11][12]

List of TRAC Annual Meetings

The Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conferences and joint Roman Archaeology Conferences (RAC) have been held or planned at the following institutions or cities:^[4]

Year	Meeting Sequence	Host Institution / City	Conference Dates
2026	34th	Aarhus University[13]	21-23 May[13]
2025	33rd	TRAC 2025[13][a][b]	22-24 October[13]
2024	32nd	University College London[c]	11-14 April
2023	31st	University of Exeter	27-29 April
2020	30th	Split[c][d]	6-8 April
2019	29th	University of Kent	11-14 April
2018	28th	University of Edinburgh[c]	12-14 April
2017	27th	Durham University	28-31 March
2016	26th	Sapienza Università di Roma[c]	16-19 March
2015	25th	University of Leicester	27-29 March
2014	24th	University of Reading[c]	28-30 March
2013	23rd	King's College London	4-6 April
2012	22nd	University of Frankfurt	29 March-1 April
2011	21st	University of Newcastle	14-17 April
2010	20th	University of Oxford	25-28 March
2009	19th	University of Southampton[e]	17–18 April
		University of Michigan[c]	3-5 April
2008	18th	University of Amsterdam	4-6 March
2007	17th	University College London[c]	29 March -1 April
2006	16th	University of Cambridge	24-25 March
2005	15th	University of Birmingham[c]	31 March - 3 April
2004	14th	Durham University	26-27 March
2003	13th	University of Leicester[c]	3-6 April
2002	12th	University of Kent	5-6 April[14]
2001	11th	University of Glasgow[c]	29-31 March[15]
2000	10th	University College London	6-7 April[16]
1999	9th	Durham University[c]	April[17]
1998	8th	University of Leicester	April[18]
1997	7th	University of Nottingham[c]	April[19]
1996	6th	University of Sheffield	30-31 March[20]
1995	5th	University of Reading[c]
1994	4th	Durham University	March[21]
1993	3rd	University of Glasgow
1992	2nd	University of Bradford	28-29 March[22]
1991	1st	Newcastle University	23–24 March

Notes

1. This will be an online conference.^[13]
2. This conference will be an international collaboration between the TRAC and the Theorien in der Archäologie (TIdA) organisation in Germany.^[13]
3. Jointly held with the Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC).
4. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this conference was postponed.
5. Jointly held with the United States Roman Archaeology Conference (US-RAC).