SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 68 May, 1995 New Research on the Origin of Cowries in Ancient China by Ke Peng and Yanshi Zhu Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA [email protected] www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series edited by Victor H. Mair. The purpose of the series is to make available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. Contributions in any of the major scholarly languages of the world, including Romanized Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM) and Japanese, are acceptable. 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N.B.: Beginning with issue no. 171, Sino-Platonic Papers has been published electronically on the Web. Issues from no. 1 to no. 170, however, will continue to be sold as paper copies until our stock runs out, after which they too will be made available on the Web at www.sino-platonic.org. _______________________________________________ NEW RESEARCH ON THE ORIGIN OF COWRIES USED IN ANCIENT CHINA Ke Peng and Yanshi Zhu Contents 1. Introduction 2. Natural Distribution ofthe Cowry 3. Revie'.,v ofPast Research 4. Collection and Analysis ofCowry Data a. Principle ofdata collection, adoption and analysis b. Collection and analysis ofcowry data Phase 1. Beginning ofCovvry-use --Neolithic era Phase 2. Development ofCowry-use --from the hypothetical Xia to early Shang Dynasties Phase 3. Peak ofCowry-use --from middle Shang Dynasty to early Spring and Autumn Period Phase 4. Waning ofCowry-use --from middle Spring-Autumn Period to Warring States Phase 5. Disappearance ofCowry-use --from Qin Dynasty to Han Dynasty c. Summary 5. Demonstration ofRelevant Data a. Collateral evidence ofimitation cowries b. Collateral negative evidence ofshell-mound sites 6. Further Research in the Origin ofCowries Used in Ancient China 7. Conclusion Ke Peng and Yanshi Zhu, "New Research on the Origin ofCowries in Ancient China" NEW RESEARCH ON THE ORIGIN OF COWRIES USED IN ANCIENT CHINA Ke Peng and Yanshi Zhu 1. Introduction For long periods in ancient China, large numbers of cowry shells were used as money and ornamentation. However, the origin of Chinese cowries has been ignored until the present. This paper will attempt to correct a fundamental misunderstanding in the origin of Chinese cowries by collecting and analyzing all previous cowry data in the archaeological literature. The cowries discussed here have various names throughout the literature such as: "marine shell" ~ffi!, "dentalium shell" ~&, "ziJan shell" *~, "monetary cowry" ~ffi!, "treasure cowry" Wffi!, or "cowry" &. They mainly represent the two species, Monetaria annulus (Cypraea annulus) and Monetaria moneta (Cypraea moneta). Since their shapes and living areas, as well as their same functions, all basically correspond, they will all be referred to here as "cowries". The phrase "ancient China," used here, refers to Chinese history and pre-history from the Neolithic era through the Han Dynasty. Aft~r the Han Dynasty, only a few cowries have been found. Although cowries were used again in Yunnan province from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD), there was no relationship between the cowI)' uses ofthe two periods. The latter period ofcowry use will not be discussed here. Sino-Platonic Papers. 68 (May, 1995) 2, Natural Distribution ofthe Cowries Monetaria annulus and Monetaria moneta are distributed over the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, including the South China Sea (Nanhai mW). In the South China Sea, the water temperature of cowry tolerance ranges between 20 degrees Celsius in winter and 29 degree Celsius in Swnmer. The salt concentration in surfacial water is not lowe~ than 33 part per thousand. To the contrary, along the Chinese coastal seas, the highest water temperature in winter is about 16 degree Celsius in the Guangdong province coastal sea and the highest salt concentration in surfacial water is about 30 parts per thousand in the south Chinese coastal sea, Therefore, no cowry is distributed over all the Chinese coastal seas. Average temperatures have changed in the cowry-use period. During the Yangshao {£f] ~ warm period, from 8000 to 3000 years ago, the average temperature in East China was two or three degrees above the present. During the Zhou-Han cold period, from 3000 to 1500 years ago, the average temperature was one degree below the present. Considering the temperature increase on the mainland and the surfacial temperature isothenn of the contemporary Yangshao wann period, the surfacial temperature in winter in the Bohai g}j~ Sea was about 5 degrees Celsius; in the Huanghai Q Sea, about 8 degrees; in the Donghai *$ Sea, about 7 or 9 degrees and in the South China Sea, about 19 or 20 degrees, Considering the higher precipitation and lower evaporation in the Yangshao warm period, salt concentration in surfacial water must have been lower than it is now. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that cowries were distributed along all ofthe Chinese coastal seas during the Yangshao wann period. Likewise, cowries may not have been distributed during the Zhou­ Han cold period, either. 2 Ke Peng and Yanshi Zhu, "New Research on the Origin ofCowries in Ancient China" Our conclusion is supported by Burgess' recent study of living cowries. The contemporary distributions of Cypraea annulus and Cypraea moneta he gave in 1985 are quite far away from Chinese coastal seas and even do not include Taiwan (Burgess, 1985:227-228). But in his earlier publication, The living Cowries, the distributions do include Chinese coastal seas (Burgess, 1970:342-343), and this old result has been quoted broadly (Chang,1980: 154; Hogendorn and Johnson, 1986:8). However, even according to the old result, the Chinese coast still could not have been the origin of ancient Chinese cowry-use, because, as K. C. Chang has noticed, "C. annulus may be found today on the eastern seacoast ofChina south ofthe Yangtze delta, but C. moneta is not seen on mainland Chinese coasts at all" (Chang,1980:155). 3. Review ofPast Research On the origin ofcowries used in ancient China, Chinese scholars have given three places. One is the north Chinese coastal sea (Zheng, 1959:65-66); another is the east and southeast Chinese coastal sea (Zhu, 1984: 17); and another is the South China sea. The last was given by a well-known Chinese scholar, Guo Moroo $~~. He has argued that" Cowries are living in the South China Sea but not the Chinese coastal area. The cowries which had been used in the Shang Dynasty must come from the southeast coastal area because even in the 1 present the natives ofSoutheast Asia still call the cowries 'Bia • This pronunciation is most similar to the ancient Chinese one" (Guo, 1954: 17). The hypothesis of the Chinese south sea origin was first put forward by the famous Japanese scholar Egami Namio ?.Lt~x in 1930's. He again developed the hypothesis in great detail in his article "Migration ofthe Cowries-shell Culture in East Asia" in 1974. He 3 Sino-Platonic Papers, 68 (May, 1995) analyzed three legends quoted in Shangshu dazhuan ~ _:*1-t, which is believed to have been compiled by Fu Sheng fjCJm in the early Han Dynasty. Egami Namio pointed out that in ancient China there were three stages representing the beliefs of ancient Chinese considering the origin of cowries. According to him, during the Western Zhou Dynasty (1100-771 Be), the first stage, the Chinese believed that cowries could be fOWld along the banks and beaches ofthe Changjiang (Yangtze) and Huaihe Rivers. It is evident that at that time, the Chinese still thought that cowries were limnetic, unaware that they were purely marine products, although they knew that cowries came from those southern districts.