The phrase 'may be traced back to' is correct and can be used in written English.
You can use this phrase when referring to the origin of something or the source of its development. For example, "The roots of this tradition may be traced back to ancient times."
We merely wish to indicate plausibly how all conceptions of geometry may be traced back to that of distance.
Our multisensory craze may be traced back to ancient times, when Egyptian, Greek, and Roman doctors placed ailing patients in baths filled with electric eels.
And as it moves from tissue to tissue, it divides and mutates, creating a path that may be traced back to its origins.
The Burmese arched harp (saung gauk) has features that may be traced back to pre-Hittite times and the Egyptian 4th dynasty (c. 2575 c. 2465 bce).
Finnish noita, Mansi nait, and Estonian noit belong together linguistically, and their origin may be traced back to the common Finno-Ugric period before 2500 bc.
A lot of excess word count may be traced back to an overuse of word forms that often muck things up.
Accordingly, the observed reduction in bacterial numbers may be traced back either to direct anti-microbial effects of fibrates or to a fibrate-triggered amelioration of innate immune responses.
"Why wait for a man to give her a diamond ring?" This notion may be traced back, approximately, to September.
HOFFMANN: Theoretically he was attached to Department IV, but he conducted a very intense activity of his own and I also emphasized that this may be traced back largely to the fact that he did not come from the Police.
16), which discussed how luxury fashion chains might become obsolete -- in part because designers have opened their own stores: The possible demise of the chains may be traced back further, to the late 1980's, after the buyouts and consolidations of many stores.
Monist tendencies may be traced back already to Wilhelm Johannsen's work at the beginning of the 20th century.
