the shell of a mollusc that was widely available in the shallow waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, was in China. Historically, many societies have used cowries as money, and even as recently ...

The cowrie, a type of marine snail, has very colourful shells which were used as money. It seems that it wasn’t just the colours that made the shell appealing - its small size and durability ...

Their relevance also sate beyond being used as money. They even represented power in trade: Europeans in the 16th century used cowries to enter African trade markets. Shells were used to purchase ...

They become active only at night. Cowries feed mostly on tiny algae. “The yellowish white form of the cowry shells usually used in the game of Panchi is the shell of a species called the Money Cowry,” ...