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Message:: [QUOTE="TypeCoin971793, post: 2755686, member: 78244"]Actual shells were used as money, decoration, and burial money. The imitations are less clear. They could have been used as money (the bronze ones in particular), but they are mostly found in tombs. A lot of the bone cowries are green because they were in a bronze vessel, which were often placed in tombs. Some theories suggest a sudden shortage of cowries where improvisations had to be made, or that lower-class individuals wanted in on the valuable shells, so they made some themselves. In the early Zhou Dynasty, cowries were extremely valuable because they were scarce and pretty (my research says that a cowrie was worth equal to a slave). The borders of the early Zhou were hundreds of miles from any areas that produced cowries, which resulted in their scarcity. As the Zhou conquered more area, cowries became more accessible and less valuable. This is seen on inscribed bronze vessels as later ones speak of rewards and purchases of larger amounts of cowries. I don't know. It is certainly possible that they were used as money. I have not focuesed my attention on proto-money yet, so I am regrettably lacking in information.[/QUOTE]