Cowrie

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(Redirected from
Cowry
)
Not to be confused with
Kauri or Coury
.
Cowrie
Cowry
Cowries are generally seen on rocky areas of the sea bed.
Cowries are generally seen on rocky areas of the sea bed.
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Littorinimorpha
Superfamily: Cypraeoidea
Family: Cypraeidae
Cowrie (Cypraea chinensis) with fully extended mantle
Shells of various species of cowrie; all but one have their anterior ends pointing towards the top of this image.

Cowrie or cowry (pl. cowries) is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.

The term porcelain derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (porcellana) due to their similar appearance.[1]

Cowrie shells have held cultural, economic, and ornamental significance in various cultures. The cowrie was the shell most widely used worldwide as

Malabar coast, in Borneo and on other East Indian islands, in Maluku in the Pacific, and in various parts of the African coast from Ras Hafun to Mozambique. Cowrie shell money was important in the trade networks of Africa, South Asia, and East Asia
.

In the

eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of the United States; further south, off the coast of Mexico, Central America and Peru, Little Deer Cowrie habitat can be found; and further into the Pacific from Central America, the Pacific habitat range of Money Cowrie can be reached[2]) as well as the waters south of the Southeastern United States.[3]

Some species in the family Ovulidae are also often referred to as cowries. In the British Isles the local Trivia species (family Triviidae, species Trivia monacha and Trivia arctica) are sometimes called cowries. The Ovulidae and the Triviidae are other families within Cypraeoidea, the superfamily of cowries and their close relatives.

Etymology

The word cowrie comes from

better source needed
]

Shell description

1742 drawing of shells of the money cowrie, Monetaria moneta
Cowrie shells

The shells of cowries are usually smooth and shiny and more or less egg-shaped. The round side of the shell is called the Dorsal Face, whereas the flat under side is called the Ventral Face, which shows a long, narrow, slit-like opening (aperture), which is often toothed at the edges. The narrower end of the egg-shaped cowrie shell is the anterior end, and the broader end of the shell is called the posterior. The spire of the shell is not visible in the adult shell of most species, but is visible in juveniles, which have a different shape from the adults.

Nearly all cowries have a porcelain-like shine, with some exceptions such as Hawaii's granulated cowrie, Nucleolaria granulata. Many have colorful patterns. Lengths range from 5 mm (0.2 in) for some species up to 19 cm (7.5 in) for the Atlantic deer cowrie, Macrocypraea cervus.

Human use

Monetary use

See also: Shell money

Cowrie shells, especially

Maldivian cowries in Africa.[6] The Ghanaian cedi was named after cowrie shells. Starting over three thousand years ago, cowrie shells, or copies of the shells, were used as Chinese currency.[7] They were also used as means of exchange in India
.

The

radical. Before the Spring and Autumn period the cowrie was used as a type of trade token awarding access to a feudal lord's resources to a worthy vassal.[citation needed
]

Ritual use

The

birch bark scrolls
seem to indicate that the shells were found in the ground, or washed up on the shores of lakes or rivers. Finding the cowrie shells so far inland could indicate the previous use of them by an earlier tribe or group in the area, who may have obtained them through an extensive trade network in the ancient past.

In Eastern India, particularly in West Bengal, it is given as a token price for the ferry ride of the departed soul to cross the river "Vaitarani". Cowries are used during cremation. Cowries are also used in the worship of Goddess Laxmi.

In Brazil, as a result of the Atlantic slave trade from Africa, cowrie shells (called búzios) are also used to consult the Orixás divinities and hear their replies.

Cowrie shells were among the devices used for divination by the

Kaniyar Panicker astrologers of Kerala, India.[10]

In certain parts of Africa, cowries were prized charms, and they were said to be associated with fecundity, sexual pleasure and good luck.[11]

In

Pre-dynastic Egypt and Neolithic Southern Levant, cowrie shells were placed in the graves of young girls.[12] The modified Levantine cowries were discovered ritually arranged around the skull in female burials. During the Bronze Age, cowries became more common as funerary goods, also associated with burials of women and children.[13]

Jewelry

Cowrie shells are also worn as

womanhood, fertility, birth and wealth.[14] Its underside is supposed, by one modern ethnographic author, to represent a vulva or an eye.[15]

On the

Cypraea aurantium, was drilled at the ends and worn on a string around the neck by chieftains as a badge of rank.[16] The women of Tuvalu use cowrie and other shells in traditional handicrafts.[17]

Games and gambling

Cowrie shells are sometimes used in a way similar to

Ashta Chamma or in divination (cf. Ifá and the annual customs of Dahomey of Benin). A number of shells (6 or 7 in Pachisi) are thrown, with those landing aperture upwards indicating the actual number rolled.[citation needed
]

In

Deepawali. In the same festival these shells are also worshiped as a symbol of Goddess Lakshmi and wealth.[citation needed
]

Other

Large cowrie shells such as that of a

darning egg over which sock heels were stretched. The cowrie's smooth surface allows the needle to be positioned under the cloth more easily. [citation needed
]

In the 1940s and 1950s, small cowry shells were used as a teaching aid in infant schools e.g counting, adding, subtracting.

  • Print from 1845 shows cowrie shells being used as money by an Arab trader.
    Print from 1845 shows cowrie shells being used as money by an Arab trader.
  • Antiquities of Native Americans, particularly of the Georgia tribes (1873)
    Antiquities of Native Americans, particularly of the Georgia tribes (1873)
  • Cowrie shells used as dice, showing a roll of 3
    Cowrie shells used as dice, showing a roll of 3

See also

References

  1. ^ "Home : Oxford English Dictionary". Oed.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  2. ^ "A Cowry Shell Artifact from Bolsa Chica : An Example of Prehistoric Exchange" (PDF). Pcas.org. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Cowrie". Infoplease.com.
  4. ^ "Cowri". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  5. ^ Russell, Bertrand (1929). Marriage and Morals. H. Liveright. p. 34.
  6. ISBN 9780521541107
    . Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  7. ^ "Money Cowries" Archived 2009-04-05 at the Wayback Machine by Ardis Doolin in Hawaiian Shell News, NSN #306, June 1985
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2012-05-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ISBN 9781553797463
    .
  10. ISBN 978-81-206-0170-3
    .
  11. ISBN 1-85986-059-1
    .
  12. ^ Golani, Amir (2014). "Cowrie Shells and their Imitations as Ornamental Amulets in Egypt and the Near East". Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranea: 71–94.
  13. ^ Kovács 2008: 17
  14. ^ Radiance from the Waters: Ideals of Feminine Beauty in Mende Art by Sylvia Ardyn Boone. Yale University Press, 1986.
  15. JSTOR 1257370
    .
  16. ^ Cowries as a badge of rank in Fiji. (archived)
  17. ^ Tiraa-Passfield, Anna (September 1996). "The uses of shells in traditional Tuvaluan handicrafts" (PDF). SPC Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin #7. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  18. ^ "Tihar". Yeti Trial Adventure. Retrieved 22 October 2014.

Further reading

  • Felix Lorenz; Alex Hubert (1999). A Guide to Worldwide Cowries. Conchbooks.
    ISBN 978-3-925-91925-1
    .

External links
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