David Martínez Chico is an ancient historian, numismatist, archaeologist, as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of Revista Numismática Hécate (first Spanish numismatic journal to be indexed in Scopus). He completed his studies of history at the University of Murcia and obtained a master’s degree in archaeology at the University of Valencia. Martínez Chico has participated in several archaeological campaigns of the Roman period. A grant-in-aid from the International Numismatic Council allowed him to stay in Oxford for a couple of months where he collaborated on the “Coin Hoards of the Roman Empire Project”, under supervision of Chris Howgego. Other grant from the Casa de Velázquez (École des hautes études hispaniques et ibériques) allowed him to stay in Lisboa in order to acces Portuguese hoards and ancient literature.
His central field of study covers the ancient period of the Iberian Peninsula and the Roman period. He is currently working on a doctoral thesis, under the supervision of Professor Pere Pau Ripollès (University of Valencia), about imperial hoards found in the Iberian Peninsula, investigating monetization and coin supply in Hispania from the reign of Augustus to the 6th century AD. Many of his papers have been published in Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Romania and Switzerland, and translated into more than eighty bibliographic titles. He has published in the main numismatic journals of Europe, i.e., Numismatic Chronicle, Revue Numismatique, etc. Historical approaches focusing on ancient history, and always emphasizing the study of written and archaeological sources, have not been absent either. Roman epigraphy can be cited as a written source, a field in which he has published several works in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. He is currently working in new fields in order to establish interdisciplinary relationships (lead isotope analysis, Roman mining and trade).
Additionally, he is member of the Asociación Numismática Española, Societat Catalana d’Estudis Numismàtics, Royal Numismatic Society and Société Française de Numismatique.