“Decolonising the Roman Past: Is it possible without confronting the human crisis we witness today?”
This was the question at the centre of our plenary roundtable at this year’s Roman Archaeology Conference and Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, hosted splendidly in Aarhus, Denmark (May 2026).
Through perspectives grounded in Britain, Palestine, Gaza, Cyprus, North Africa, Sardinia and beyond, the discussion moved across coloniality, activism, institutional practices, politics of interpretation, social justice, dissent, and the responsibilities of archaeology in the present.
The provocations and responses offered by Lylaah L Bhalerao, Dr. Sahal Abdi, Georgia Andreou, Mahmoud Hawari, Jen Baird, Caroline Pudney, Caitlin Clerkin, Jason Lundock, Richard Hingley, Anna Walas, Eva Mol and Rubina Raja were stimulating, challenging, and deeply generous, and it was encouraging to see many colleagues engaging so openly with these themes well beyond the room itself, at the end of an intense conference.
I am so grateful to the public for their engagement, and to the Roman Society, the Roman Archaeology Conference, and the Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference, and our impeccable hosts at Aarhus University, Ilaria Bucci, Rubina Raja, Vinnie Nørskov, Olympia Bobou, and the students at Aarhus for the memorable hospitality, the spotless organisation, and for the plenary space and trust in this initiative.
Grateful to Università per Stranieri di Siena, for always supporting initiatives aimed to foster social justice.
Finally, thankful to Denmark, for its long sunny days, its design, its politics, and its mouth-watering pastries (photo-witnesses attached)! Tak!
