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The Royal Archaeological Institute has been running regional themed conferences since 2009. The aim of these conferences is to showcase new research on a variety of themes and in a number of locations away from the south-east of England. Here you can find a full archive of our conferences.
Castles: landscapes of power - York, 2009
Organised jointly with the Medieval Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society and held on the 16-17 May at the Yorkshire Museum, this conference had a variety of papers focusing on recent castle studies and included day trips to Sheriff Hutton Castle or the castles of York.
Three papers from this conference were subsequently published in Volume 167 of the Archaeological Journal:
Robert Higham, Castle Studies in Transition: a Forty Year Reflection
Shaun Richardson, A Room with a View? Looking Outwards from Late Medieval Harewood
Peter Brears, Wressle Castle: Functions, Fixtures and Furnishings for Henry Percy ‘The Magnificent’ fifth Earl of Northumberland,1498‒1527
Wales and the West during the Bronze Age - Cardiff, 2010
This conference was held on the 24th and 25th April with the support of Cadw and the Cambrian Archaeological Association. Giving an insight into new discoveries and the richness of this period in the west, conference themes illustrated early ceremonial and burial landscapes, artefact and environmental evidences and later settled landscapes.
Papers given included Professor Martin Bell on the exploitation of wetland landscapes, Henrietta Quinnell on the latest thinking on Trevisker pottery and Dr Stuart Needham on the Mold cape, alongside many others.
A write-up of the conference by Frances Griffiths was published in our newsletter.
Legacies of Northumbria - Newcastle, 2012
With a full title of 'Legacies of Northumbria: recent thinking on 4th to 15th centuries in Northern Britain', this conference was co-sponsored by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle and was held at the Mining Institute in Newcastle upon Tyne on 28 September to 1 October. It included a coach trip to early medieval sites in North Northumberland, including Bamburgh Castle, Holy Island, Jarrow Monastery and nearby Bede's World museum.
There were a number of conference themes including: the legacy of Rome and the prehistoric north during the formation of 5-6th century chiefdoms, the Golden Age of Northumbria, Northumbria in the Viking Age and the role of Northumbrian culture in the high medieval period. A keynote lecture was given by Professor Dame Rosemary Cramp.
A write-up of the conference by Joanne Kirton was published in our newsletter.
The Impact of Rome on the British Countryside - Chester, 2013
Held at the University of Chester, this conference started with a keynote lecture by Nico Roymans, Professor of Roman Archaeology and Prehistory at VU University, Amsterdam. There was also a guided walking tour of Roman Chester and the Grovesnor Museum, and a further optional day of tours to North Wales, led by Fiona Gale (Denbighshire County Archaeologist).
A write-up of the conference by Philip Smither was published in our newsletter.
Science in Archaeology - Bradford, 2014
This conference was hosted jointly with the University of Bradford, on the 17-19 October. For the first time this saw two days of conference papers, without the customary field trip. There were several papers by eminent speakers who reviewed the past 40 years of science studies for either time periods of prehistory or specific specialism, including radiocarbon dating, remote sensing, materials science, human remains and animal remains. In between were more specific papers from students and early career researchers illustrating new research.
Science in Archaeology conference programme and abstracts
Ships and Shorelines: Maritime Archaeology for the 21st Century - Southampton, 2015
Held from the 16-18 October at the University of Southampton, the keynote lecture was given by Professor Jonathan Adams from the University of Southampton. Papers were presented on the work of the Maritime Archaeology Trust; new research by the Royal Navy Museum; geoarchaeology results of the research at Dunwich; sea level changes; investigation of submerged landscapes in Northern Ireland; the Mary Rose; the Dover boat; the Swash Channel wreck, the Must Farm log boats; nautical archaeology in the community and the Newport Medieval ship.
Ships and Shorelines conference abstracts
The Neolithic of Northern England - Carlisle, 2016
The conference was hosted in association with The Prehistoric Society and CWAAS from the 21-23 October at Tullie House Museum.
Neolithic of Northern England conference programme and abstracts
Publication: New Light on the Neolithic of Northern England - Paperback
Arras 200 - Celebrating the Iron Age - York, 2017
Hosted in partnership with the University of Hull and Yorkshire Museum and in association with Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society and East Riding Archaeological Society, the conference was held from 17-19 November at Yorkshire Museum. The conference celebrated the 200th anniversary of the first excavations on the Middle Iron Age cemetery at Arras in East Yorkshire and coincided with a special exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum displaying artefacts from those excavations. A keynote lecture was given by Dr Fraser Hunter.
Arras 200 - Celebrating the Iron Age programme
Thames Discovery Programme Foreshore Forum with the Royal Archaeological Institute - London, 2018
The conference was held in partnership with the Thames Discovery Programme at University College London from 13 - 14 October. The following are some of the filmed lectures from the conference.
Welcome and year in Review by Eliott Wragg
Art as Archaeology by Melvyn Dresner
Special Mystery FROG by Nathalie Cohen
Older Londoners Project Update by Helen Johnston
Tideway Engaging with Younger People Project by Joshua Frost
Enabled Archaeology and the TDP by Theresa O'Mahony
Archaeological Investigations at Tideway by Stella Bickelman
Who were Roman Londoners? by Sadie Watson
The Colne Valley in Prehistory by Samantha Brummage
When the Facts Change: Finding Officers’ Households at Roman Forts by Claire Millington
Archaeological Evidence for Change in Tidal Levels on the Thames, an Update by Damian Goodburn
The Golden Age of Thames Antiquarians by John Cotton
Turning the Tide? Three Years of Community Archaeology on the English Coast by Gustav Milne
Intertidal Archaeology in the Severn Estuary and the Study of Prehistoric Routeways by Martin Bell
Intertidal Archaeology in Biscay: First Results for an Ongoing Project by Jose Manuel Mates Luque
Citizen Science in the Sunshine State: FPAN’s Programs in Training and Mobilizing Volunteers by Sarah Miller
The Romans in North-East England - London, 2019
Organised by the Royal Archaeological Institute in association with the Roman Society, our tenth annual conference was held at Senate House, University of London from 29 November to 1 December. The conference concentrated on recent work on Roman North-East England, from Yorkshire to Hadrian’s Wall.