He left teaching in 1968 to undertake a doctorate at Wadham College, Oxford,[2] which he completed in 1972 with a thesis tiled "A survey of denominations and categories in the currency of the western Roman Empire, with special reference to hoards and site finds in Britain".[3] He joined the London Institute of Archaeology as a lecturer in 1970. Promoted to a senior lecturer in 1981, he was made Reader in Late Roman Archaeology and Numismatics. He has been an emeritus reader at UCL since retiring in 1999.[1][4]
Reece periods
Reece defined 21 date ranges for coins of the Roman period, now called Reece periods. The British Museum uses these (with two more added later) when comparing different discovery sites.[5]