Trac

Thirteen papers on Roman archaeology from the 10th TRAC conference in London. The tenth Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference was held in April 2000, at the Institute of Archaeology. As the conference was divided into five different sessions. In the opening session, Representing Romans the methodology of portraying the Romans to the wider world was explored. Hunter and Clarke's paper outline the challenge of designing appropriate gallery displays for the new National Museum of Scotland whereas Grew, discusses the development of Roman London. Fincham's paper discusses the threat of overwhelming military intervention by the imperial owner in colonial negotiations. Issues of ethnicity, gender, class and occupation within the later Roman army are addressed here. Green's paper presents an important discussion of the nature of human/stag hybrids in iron Age and Gallo-Roman iconography and Hawkes presents an analysis of differential foodways, preparing and serving meals encountered in Roman Britain. Carr considers the role of body decoration and grooming, arguing that individuals in different areas of south eastern Roman Britain made different cultural choices to structure their ethnic identities. The final set of papers focused on Constructing Childhood in the Roman World reconsidering some long-standing truisms regarding the status and treatment of children in the Roman context. Pearce's examines Roman infant burial and what role religion plays in burial ceremony.

The twenty-third Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) was held at King's College, London in Spring 2013. During the three-day conference nearly papers were delivered, discussing issues from a wide range of geographical regions of the Roman Empire, and applying various theoretical and methodological approaches. Sessions included those looking at Roman—Barbarian interactions; identity and funerary monuments in ancient Italy; migration and social identity in the Roman Near East; theoretical approaches to Roman small finds; formation processes of in-fills in urban sites; and new reflections on Roman glass. This volume contains a selection of papers from the conference sessions.

The twenty-second Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) was held at the Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main in spring 2012. During the three-day conference fifty papers were delivered, discussing issues from a wide range of geographical regions of the Roman Empire, and applying various theoretical and methodological approaches. An equally wide selection of subjects was presented: sessions looked at Greek art and philhellenism in the Roman world, the validity of the concept of 'Romanisation', change and continuity in Roman religion, urban neighbourhood relations in Pompeii and Ostia, the transformation of objects in and from the Roman world, frontier markets and Roman archaeology in the Provinces. In addition, two general sessions covered single topics such as the 'transvestite of Catterick', metal recycling or Egyptian funeral practice in the Roman period. This volume contains a selection of papers from all these sessions.

The 2015 TRAC proceedings feature a selection of 14 papers summing up some of the key sessions presented at the conference held at the University of Leicester in March 2015, which drew over 180 delegates of 17 nationalities from a variety of universities, museums, and research institutions in the UK, Europe, and North America. As this conference marked the 25th anniversary of TRAC, the volume opens with a preface commemorating the last 25 years with an eye toward the future direction of both conference and community. The proceedings begin with Dr. Andrew Gardner's keynote paper on the topic of 'Debating Roman Imperialism: Critique, Construct, Repeat?'. This is followed by an array of papers with topics ranging in geographic scope and period, from small finds in early Roman Britain to bathing practices Late Antique North Africa, and from the investigation of deviant burials to the application of urban scaling theory in Roman contexts. Because of this diversity the volume is not broken into specific sections, however, papers with similar themes are grouped accordingly, allowing the text to flow and be read as a whole. The range of contributing authors is also of note, as papers were submitted by PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and university faculty, all helping to make the 25th anniversary of this series one that continues to emphasis and reflect the aims of TRAC, both as a conference and as a conduit for exploring more theory-driven approaches to the Roman past.

This volume contains ten papers reflecting current aspects of the debate in theoretical Roman archaeology. They include papers on what the pottery finds from the Nepi Survey Project can tell us about how the local landscape was used and inhabited, poliadic deities in Roman colonies in Italy, Pompeii, the practice of the recycling of architectural materials and personal adornment concerning textile remains and brooches.

This volume contains a selection of papers presented at TRAC 2014, as well as some invited contributions. In keeping with the aims of TRAC, several papers make innovative use of interdisciplinary theory: in humanistic geography, philosophy and archaeology; social psychology; and the cognitive science of religion in the study of Roman monuments, military social history and religion. Other papers share a common theme: the critical interpretation of archaeological evidence. A more careful consideration of non-grave good pottery sherds from graves suggests that these often disregarded items potentially shed light on funerary rites which are usually considered to be invisible; the potential importance of plant remains, particularly of exotic and rare species, in ritual deposits is examined and a new perspective on the negative aspects of Roman conquest of Northern Gaul presented. New approaches towards our understanding of space and landscape in the Roman world comprise an examination of the suburbs of ancient Rome and preliminary results of an ongoing project exploring the relationship between wetland landscapes and domestic settlements, presenting a case study from Spain.

This volume was derived from the twenty-first annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, which took place at the University of Newcastle (14-17 April 2011).