Document of bibliographic reference 319784

BibliographicReference record

Type

Bibliographic resource

Type of document

Journal article

BibLvlCode

AS

Title

Cataloging cowries: a standardized strategy to record six key species of cowrie shell from the West African archaeological record

Abstract

Two species of the cowrie shell, Monetaria moneta (Linnaeus, 1758) and Monetaria annulus (Linnaeus, 1758), repeatedly occur in archaeological contexts across West Africa. Despite their archaeological and ethnographic importance, these shells remain poorly and inconsistently reported in the archaeological literature. The absence of standardized data on species composition, size, and condition of cowrie assemblages, and whether and how the shells were modified, make it difficult to examine their significance in a regional and chronological framework. To address this problem, we propose a set of standardized criteria and coding system for recording cowrie assemblages—in particular, species, size, condition, and state of modification. We aim to enable nonshell specialists within the wider archaeological community to securely identify intact or modified specimens of M. annulus and M. moneta, showing how these can be distinguished from four cowrie species native to West Africa—Luria lurida (Linnaeus, 1758), Zonaria zonaria (Gmelin, 1791), Zonaria sanguinolenta (Gmelin, 1791), and Trona stercoraria (Linnaeus, 1758). We demonstrate how accurate species identification and the assessment of proportions of different sizes of shells within suitably large assemblages can provide insight into their provenance. This information can enhance our appreciation of the exchange networks within which these shells moved. We also identify five different strategies documented in the archaeological record that were used to modify cowries, detailing how these can be differentiated and classified. The aim here is to suggest a recording strategy that will enable comparisons of the use and value of cowries in West Africa and elsewhere.

WebOfScience code

https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/full-record/WOS:000500290300002

Bibliographic citation

Christie, A.C.; Grant, A.; Haour, A. (2019). Cataloging cowries: a standardized strategy to record six key species of cowrie shell from the West African archaeological record. African Archaeological Review 36(4): 479-504. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10437-019-09351-z

Topic

Marine

Is peer reviewed

true