The ERC-funded project Token Communities in the Ancient Mediterranean (2016–2021), based at the University of Warwick, is the first major study of ancient tokens in the ancient Mediterranean. The project explores how these objects actively generated different types of community, contextualising the contemporary rise of alternative and community currencies. It focuses on the Hellenistic world (c. 323–30 BC) and the Roman world prior to late antiquity (first century BC–AD 284).

Two ongoing databases were created as part of the project. Tokens of the Ancient Mediterranean (TAM) collects types of tokens from the Greek and Roman worlds. Additional funding supported the inclusion of tokens minted in the fourth and fifth centuries AD.

Token Specimens of the Ancient Mediterranean brings together examples of tokens from museums, excavations and other publications. Additional funding supported the inclusion of tokens minted in the fourth and fifth centuries AD.