Man and Molhisks 7 



(Cypraecassis rufa) in a grave of the prehistoric Cro-Magnon man in the 

 caves of France was of considerable importance in tracing former trade 

 routes. This species is found only in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Its pres- 

 ence substantiated other archaeological evidence that extensive trade routes 

 for great distances existed among early European man. The Tiger Cowrie 

 {Cypraea tigris), another Indo-Pacific species, has been found in a prehistoric 

 pit-dwelling at St. Mary Bourne at Hants, England, and the Panther Cowrie 

 (Cypraea pantherina) , a Red Sea species, has been found in Saxon women's 

 graves, excavated in several localities in Kent, England. 



The seashell with perhaps the widest dispersal by the ancients and 

 modern man is the small, yellow Money Cowrie {Cypraea moneta) which 

 was for many centuries the accepted currency in many parts of the world. 

 Although its natural biological distribution is hmited to the vast areas of the 

 Indian Ocean, the East Indies and the islands of the tropical Pacific, its use 

 as currency or for ornamentation has been almost worldwide. The three 

 most unusual records are those located in North America. 



When the aboriginal sites along the Tennessee River were being investi- 

 gated at the beginning of this century, five Pacific Money Cowries were un- 

 earthed from one of the graves of the Roden Mounds in Alabama. Evidence 

 points to the fact that these burials had been made before the mound makers 

 had any intercourse with white man. The shells were sent to the United 

 States National Museum by their discoverer, and Dr. William H. Dall wrote 

 the following interesting reply: — 



I should incline to the belief that the cowries were imported in or 

 about the time of Columbus' voyages. Bound, as they supposed, for the 

 Indies, where the cowry was formerly (like our wampum) a staple article 

 of barter, the exploring vessels would have undoubtedly carried cowries 

 as well as other articles of trade we know they carried. It would not have 

 taken them long to find out that cowries did not pass as currency with 

 American natives, and reporting this on their return to Spain later traders 

 would not have carried them for barter. The necklace or bracelet you 

 obtained may have passed from hand to hand as a curiosity (as I have 

 known such things to do) until it reached a people who knew nothing 

 of whites 'till much later. In fact your cowries may have come off one of 

 Columbus' own vessels. 



If not from one of Columbus' ships, these shells more than likely were 

 brought over from Europe soon afterward by early Spanish explorers. It 

 does not seem so plausible to assume, as some ethnologists do, that these shells 

 were brought by migrating tribes from eastern Asia to America via the Bering 

 Straits lonsr before the time of Columbus. 



The Lewis and Clark Expedition brought back in 1 805 a handsome dress, 

 possibly of Cree origin, which was adorned with four dozen Money Cowries. 



