Tokens are a common replacement for money in modern culture, whether we’re using them to access hotel parking garages or our kids are plunking them into arcade games. But did you know that tokens date back thousands of years?

Dr. Antonino Crisà of Warwick University in England will showcase their use in Sicily during the reigns of ancient Greece and Rome at a special presentation at Casa Italia in June. He will then trace their use all the way to modern Sicily, where tokens are still used to gain access to festivals and civic events. He will conclude his presentation with observations from his new book on the history of Sicilian archeology.