Stone Money Research Articles

Chemical analysis of glass beads in Palau, western Micronesia reveals 19th century inter-island exchange systems in transition

For centuries, glass money beads (udoud) have played a critical role in cultural and economic exchanges in the Palauan archipelago (western Micronesia) since their first appearance ca. AD 600–950 from East Java and mainland Southeast Asia. Later, as part of their stone money (rai) quarrying activities, visiting Yapese islanders negotiated access to quarry sites and purchased provisions using glass beads, corvée labor, and other exchange valuables. Here, we present morphological and chemical composition analysis of 38 glass beads recovered from Chelechol ra Orrak, the only quarry site where udoud have been recovered. Analysis reveals that most of the beads were manufactured in Europe, with many originating in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) ca. AD 1830–1850. Many of these beads would have been regarded as cheldoech, a category of udoud that largely went out of circulation in the 1920s due to the ease of counterfeiting. Although this category of udoud could be easily counterfeited and beads from Yap lacked the requisite life histories associated with traditional udoud, Palauans accepted them as authentic. However, our research suggests that cheldoech may have depreciated in value well before the 1920s, with Palauans valuing and exchanging this category of udoud in new ways, including interment with burials.

Bitcoin and stone money: Anglophone use of Yapese economic cultures, 1910-2020

AbstractRecently parallels have been drawn between Bitcoin and Yapese stone money. This article focuses on Fitzpatrick and McKeon's (2019) exploration of similarities and differences. The analogy between Bitcoin and Yapese stone money is based on proposed commonalities that are inaccurate, ill-defined, and/or trivial. However, this does not signal a need to refine the comparison, but rather a need to reconsider the rationale for attempting it in the first place. Recent attempts to redefine Yapese stone money using terminology from the field of cryptocurrency reproduces a longer textual history in which writers from the Global North have misrepresented Yap for pedagogic or polemic convenience. Examples include works by William Furness III, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and influential macroeconomics textbooks, such as N. Gregory Mankiw's Macroeconomics. This history features frequent colonialist tropes of Yap as well as the erasure of histories of colonial violence and power. More caution should be exercised in the study and pedagogic use of Yapese economic cultures, and greater effort should be made to center Yapese voices, acknowledge colonial contexts, and reflect positionality and uncertainty.

Stone Money of Yap as an Early form of Money in the Economic Sense

This article examines the special case of stone money, in Yap as a store of value, medium of exchange and unit of account, which are the three traits required for something to be considered money, in the economic sense. When confidence in a system of currency with coins is present, this more conventional form of money takes precedence. A respected economic form of currency with coins has all three elements of money: medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account. Though clearly, in a certain time period, stone money was the principle type of money. To a lesser extent, beads and shell were used as money. So, for a period of time, stone money, along with some use of beads and shells, constituted the medium of exchange. The focus of this article is on the stone money of Yap. Stone was obtained by quarrying on the island of Palau, some 500 to 600 years ago. A very interesting type of money in the past, was the stone money of Yap, more formally known as Rai, or Fei. These were doughnut-shaped, carved disks of normally calcite and, up to 4 meters (12 feet) in diameter. However, there are more smaller ones, with the smallest being as little as 3.5 centimeters (1.4 inches) in diameter. The people of Yap attributed value to the Rai. After the use of Rai faded away, German Marks and then later Japanese Yen and finally the U.S. Dollar, were the monetary standard. The prior use of Rai is the main interest of this article. Today Yap is an independent country, in a “free association” with the United States. A curriculum that somewhat resembles an American one is taught in schools on Yap. Tourism to Yap is an important activity. Currently, the U.S. dollar serves as the basis for money in the nation of Yap. It has been found that this stone money met the three criteria necessary for them to be an early type of money.

Early Forms of Money, besides Currency, which may include Coins

Sometimes, when currency which may include coin is not ubiquitous in a society, that society turns to other items to serve as money. This article examines several objects in history that may have fulfilled the requirements of being money. This article examines some of the forms of money, employed other than what most people think of as conventional money. This article summarizes different forms of early money, used in different time periods and in different geographic areas. The different types of possible earlier money examined in this article are wampum, warehouse receipts for tobacco, art during the German Third Reich and its aftermath, beaver fur pelts, rice, and stone money at Yap or Rai, cocoa, tea bricks, cigarettes, whale’s teeth, musket balls and cattle. Interestingly cattle was the first item that played the role of money and that started in 9,000 B.C. The other livestock such as goats were valued in terms of cattle, which served as the unit of account. There are three requirements of something to serve as money. They must be a store of value. They have to be used as a medium of exchange. As described in this article, the art that was stolen during the German Third Reich and immediate aftermath was traded among a small group of people. For that reason, it was not considered a medium of exchange, since so few people used it for that purpose. In addition, money must have a unit of account. artworks described by being part of the thefts during the German Third Reich Era had no unit of account. For example, a painting by artist X was not easily valued in terms of a painting by artist Y, without using dollar or other monetary measurements for each painting. The examples in this article can help any economist who is teaching and researching about money and banking.

Banking on Stone Money: Ancient Antecedents to Bitcoin

Centuries ago in western Micronesia, Yapese islanders sailed to the Palauan archipelago 250 miles away to carve their famous stone money disks (rai) from limestone and then transported them back for use as exchange valuables in various social transactions. While rai were not strictly currency, their value is similar to other traditional and modern objects where worth is arbitrarily based on both real and perceived attributes. Recently, corollaries have been made between rai and newly established electronic cryptocurrencies that use blockchain technology—essentially, digital ledgers that track financial transactions in real time across a computer network to ensure that they are seamless and incorruptible. In this study, we examine the sociophysical similarities and differences between stone money and cryptocurrencies that rely on blockchain, both of which demand a unified and continuous chain of information to ensure that the value is known and ownership indisputable. This research suggests that stone money: (a) is an exemplary ancient analog to blockchain that used oral ledgers solidified through social networks to create accurate and unbroken lines of communication so that economic relationships involving rai could be established, maintained, exchanged, and rectified, and (b) may have been a progenitor that inspired the development of Bitcoin.

Native American wampum for non-monetary uses and for use as money

Frederic Mishkin’s three traits of money are examined in light of Native American wampum. This paper explores some of these issues concerning Native American wampum and can be of help to economic historians concerned with money issues. The presentation is qualitative rather than quantitative. There is some attention given to the non-monetary uses of wampum in this article. In addition, a comparison of wampum to the stone money of Yap is provided. Keywords: Native Americans, wampum, Dutch colonials, American colonial trade, necessary traits of money, Yap stone money. JEL Classification: E40, N11

Metal Tools and the Transformation of an Oceanic Exchange System

The introduction of European technologies transformed some key aspects of traditional Pacific Island lifeways and exchange systems. One of the most dramatic changes was the replacement of shell and stone tools with those made from iron. As European explorers and traders ventured throughout Micronesia, metal commodities became highly sought after by indigenous peoples. An example of metal tools replacing traditional technologies is presented to explain how this culture contact ultimately changed one of the most famous exchange systems in the Pacific—the quarrying of stone money by Yapese Islanders in the Palau archipelago. The first iron tools ever found in excavation at a stone money quarry site are discussed in relation to their role in changing this unique interisland exchange system during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The maritime transport of prehistoric megaliths in Micronesia

AbstractThis paper examines Micronesian examples of megalithic transport, focusing particularly on the ocean transport of the famous stone money disks quarried in Palau by Yapese Islanders and moved back to Yap prior to European contact. Using a combination of climatic, oceanographic, ethnohistorical, ethnographic, and archaeological data, we examine the maritime technologies that the Yapese could have used to transport stone money across several hundred kilometres of open‐ocean and offer hypotheses to show how this might have been accomplished using bamboo rafts, canoes and rafts towed by fishing canoes.

Famous Myths of "Fiat Money"

The paper re-evaluates the conventional wisdom regarding the existence of moneys that supposedly circulated without any legal status or intrinsic value. Economists call these objects "fiat money." I re-examine the most famous examples of such objects from primitive societies, such as the stone money of Yap and seashells, which have been cited by some of the most prominent monetary economists. I find that actually none of these cases is an evidence of "fiat money." A general conclusion is that one needs to seriously study the society in question before making a claim that it has used "fiat money."

A massive undertaking: examining stone money in its archaeological context

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Archaeological investigation of Omis Cave: a Yapese stone money quarry in Palau

AbstractStone money disks, predominantly quarried in Palau, were part of a complex political economy on Yap and obtained through a series of exchange relations with Palauan clans or villages. Though ethnographic and ethnohistorical records provide some insight into this exchange relationship, a lack of archaeological data has prevented a better understanding of the methods involved in stone money production and how quarry sites were used by Yapese. I present the first systematic surface survey and excavation of a stone money quarry and document evidence for the only example of Pacific Islanders' carving and transporting of carbonate rock between culturally distinct island groups. Archaeological results obtained from survey and excavation at Omis Cave complement ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts.

Yap: A Case of Benevolent Tourism

Located a little over 870 kilometers southwest of Guam is a beautiful small-island state that many people believe to be one of the places least affected by modernization in the Pacific—the island of Yap. Sometimes referred to as "the island of stone money" because of the huge pieces of circular limestone currency that can be found there, Yap is part of the island nation of the Federated States of Micronesia.

An Answer to David M. Schneider's Remarks concerning the Stone Money of Yap: A Numismatic Survey

An Answer to David M. Schneider's Remarks concerning the Stone Money of Yap: A Numismatic Survey

A Warning in Regard to the Stone Money of Yap

A Warning in Regard to the Stone Money of Yap

The Island of Stone Money

The Island of Stone Money

The Island of Stone Money: Uap of the Carolines

The Island of Stone Money: Uap of the Carolines