Archaeological excavations in Palau, Western Caroline Islands, Micronesia during the past six years have been dedicated to examining one of the most dramatic, but least understood instances of portable artifact exchange in the world – the Yapese quarrying of their famous stone “money.”
As early as perhaps 600 years ago, Yap Islanders traveled 300 miles in canoes to quarry stone money disks (also known as rai) from the limestone “Rock Islands” in Palau. Although oral traditions and ethnohistorical accounts describe the Yapese carving disks of money from the abundant limestone caves and rockshelters, until recently there was no archaeological investigation to complement other sources of information.
Results of the research suggest that the quarrying of stone money was occurring prior to European contact and involved the labor of hundreds. In addition, these disks were often extremely large and heavy. The biggest in Yap measures over four meters across and weighs around nine metric tons, making stone money the largest portable objects ever moved over open ocean by Pacific Islanders!
- Scott M. Fitzpatrick,
Assistant Professor
of Anthopology
