About Me

Hello! My name is Irene Soto Marín. I am an assistant professor of classical studies and assistant curator of numismatics here at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology at the University of Michigan. As an economic historian, my research is rooted in questions of trade and monetary integration in antiquity. Whether counting pots, coins, or coin molds, I seek to utilize quantification and statistical methods to study different ancient economies, with a particular focus on Late Roman Egypt.

My curatorial work at the Kelsey focuses on its vast numismatic collection, seeking to highlight the relationship of the many excavated coins to their archaeological context. I will also be researching the Graeco-Roman Egypt material from the site of Karanis.

Most recently, I co-edited with Jonathan Valk, Ancient Taxation: The Mechanics of Extraction in Comparative Perspective (NYU Press 2021)I have also written about coin molds and monetary policies, the Egyptian textile industry and Roman taxation, edited some Late Roman papyri, and published more archaeological papers on the household ceramics and olive oil production from the site of Amheida (ancient Trimithis) in the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt, where I have been a team member since 2008. My current monograph project is based on my dissertation and measures the level of monetary integration of Egypt with the rest of the Roman Empire from the reforms of Diocletian in the late third century to the end of the fifth century.

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