Where are the shells from? On the origins of cowrie shells in China from the 3rd to the 1st millenium BCE.
2020
Abstract
The chapter deals with the origins of the cowrie shells, which were important imported goods in the early states in the Middle Yellow River Valley in the 2nd and 1st millenium BCE. On the basis of the geographical distribution of finds of cowries in China, it is suggested that the main source area of the cowries was the Chinese Southwest, from which they were imported across the Tibetan Plateau to the Chinese Northwest and also along the Yangtze to the Early states in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.