130 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
form, C. annulus, together in one grave (D114) at Abydos, 
would seem to suggest the possibility that cowries may 
have been adopted as a form of currency at that early 
date. According to Del Mar,” Egypt “appears to have 
conducted its exchanges with cowries and scarabs, supple- 
mented possibly at later dates by Lydian or Greek coins 
for foreign commerce, until the Persian conquest, when it 
was supplied with a national coinage, probably of very 
limited extent, by Cambyses and Darius.” He further 
remarks: “The Indians who traded with Egypt used 
cowries for money; the Chinese, who also traded with 
Egypt at a very remote period, used ‘tortoise’ (probably 
cowrie) shells for money,” (Del Mar, p. 147.) 
The money-cowry (Cyvprea moneta) has been found at 
the famous cemetery of Koban, upon the northern slope 
of the Caucasus, almost midway between the Black and 
Caspian Seas, along with bronze and other antiquities." 
It has also been recorded from a sandy layer above the 
Tertiaries at Frankfurt-on-Main by Dr. W. Wenz, who 
reports the existence of extensive prehistoric settlements 
of different periods in the immediate neighbourhood.” 
Another interesting record is that of Dr. H. Stolpe, who 
states that, among the foreign objects (Cufic money, ete.) 
found in the Island of Bjork6, were many Upper Silurian 
fossils from Gothland, and Cretaceous fossils from Skane, 
also some shells of molluscs from the west coast of 
Sweden. But the most important shells were five 
examples of the money-cowry, Cvpr@a moneta.” Speci- 
17 Del Mar. “A History of Money,"’ London, 1885, p. 149. 
1* * A Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age ” (British Museum), 
1904, p. 129; see also ‘* Materiaux pourl’hist, prim, et nat. de ’ homme,” 2nd 
ser., xiii., June, 1882, p. 260, 
19 Nachr. Deutsch. Mal, Ges, 1911, p. 104, 
°° Congres internat. d@' Anthropol. et a’ Archéol. Préhist., 1874, vol. ii., 
St ockholm, 1876,ipp. 619-29. 
a 
