80 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
numismatists to be intended to represent pearl orna- 
ments.* 
Theophrastus, writing about 300 B.c., mentions the 
gems, and describes them as the product of shell-fish. In 
his day they were valued for necklaces or bracelets. 
Pliny also refers to other Greek writers on the subject. 
Like the Persian nobles, Grecian men of rank wore one 
pearl earring in the right ear, while the women wore one 
in each ear.” 
Interesting evidence of the ancient appreciation of 
pearls in the neighbourhood of the Crimea is furnished 
by the discovery of gold earrings with pearl centres, 
probably of the first half of the third century A.D., in a 
tomb close to the site of the ancient town of Chersonesus, 
and of earrings and pins set with pearls, from the 
neighbourhood of Tiflis.. An earring of fourth century 
date made of gold wire, on which seven pearls are 
threaded, said to have been found on the site of the 
ancient Greek colony of Olbia, is of special interest in 
view of the fact that the pearls are drilled. Another 
interesting find, also of the 4th century A.D., is that of a 
brass dress pin with a sphere of ainber, surmounted by a 
pearl, found near the village of Mzchet Caucasus.” 
The custom of wearing a ring, ornamented with 
corals, pearls or precious stones, was prevalent among the 
fashionable Tartar ladies of Astrakhan, in the 18th cen- 
tury. This was worn suspended from the perforated 
right nostril, and recalls a similar practice among the 
women of Persia (supra, p. 78). " 
** /bid., p. 409. 
' Streeter, of, e7/., p. 35; Kunz and Stevenson, of. cit., p. 8. 
®° Kunz and Stevenson, of, c7., p. 410. 
#1 G. A, Cooke, * System of Universal Geography,” London (1801), 
vol. i., p. 448. 
