Cowries have been in use worldwide since the Neolithic Age and continue to be utilized in certain regions of Southeast Asia and Africa today, serving various functions such as ornaments, symbols of social status, and primitive currencies, etc. China was one of the primary centers for the use of cowries. Judging from the frequency and quantity, the use of cowries reached its peak in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, a society with a strict hierarchy based on the clan system was established. The discussion on the use of cowries aids in understanding the utilization patterns of these precious exotic goods among different social groups and the role they played in establishing authority and maintaining the hierarchical system. This study analyzed about 4,000 cowries unearthed from Zhouyuan site (high-ranking settlement) and Yangjiaogou site (common settlement), conducting species identification, processing morphology, quantity statistics, and size measurements. The findings were discussed in the context of tomb hierarchy, age and sex of the tomb occupants, and the position of cowries in the tomb to explore the use of cowries across different social strata.
The results indicate that: (1) Cowries unearthed from the Western Zhou period were predominantly of the species Monetaria moneta (82%), with a smaller proportion of Monetaria annulus (18%). (2) There was no differential treatment of cowries based on species in terms of their use and processing morphology. (3) In the same cemetery, high-ranking tombs contained a relatively greater number of cowries. (4) The cowries were primarily medium to large in size, and there was no significant correlation between size variation and period. However, within the same period and tomb hierarchy, males were associated with larger-sized cowrie shells than females.