The coinage of the Kushan kings (1st to 4th centuries) and of their immediate successors the Sasanian Kushanshahs (3rd-4th centuries) and the Kidarite Hun Kushanshahs (4th-5th centuries) are a key component of our understanding of the history of ancient Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan during the early centuries AD.

Joe Cribb is the former Keeper of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, where he worked for forty years as a curator of Asian coins and currencies. He has published many articles on Kushan, Kushano-Sasanian, and Kidarite coins and on the processes of numismatic research. In 1997 he was awarded the Ikuo Hirayama Silk Road Art and Archaeology prize, in 1999 the Royal Numismatic Society's medal, and in 2008 the American Numismatic Society's Archer M. Huntington Medal. He was President of the Royal Numismatic Society 2005-2010, and has been Secretary General of the Oriental Numismatic Society since 2011.