Joris Aarts

Joris Aarts is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Culture, History, Antiquity at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam's Faculty of Humanities. His research focuses on mortuary rituals, rural frontier communities, and Roman economic practices. He has contributed to over 25 scholarly publications and teaches courses including Archaeology, Heritage and Society, and Bachelor's thesis supervision.

His key research interests include analyzing funerary practices of Batavian communities, economic networks in peripheral Roman regions, and the symbolic roles of coins in ritual contexts. Recent work emphasizes frontier archaeology and social roles in antiquity.

Awards include the W.A. van Es-prijs (2001). His lectures and activities highlight interdisciplinary approaches to Roman material culture, including talks on coin metaphors and rural economies.