Jump to Navigation Jump to Main content
巴布亞新幾內亞部分島嶼所使用的貝珠錢，如圖所示形式的貝珠錢被稱為 diwara、tambu 或 tabu。有時人們會將貝珠錢當作項鍊或耳飾使用。圖中的貝珠錢來自於巴布亞新幾內亞，東新不列顛省的約克公爵群島。一系列織紋螺屬的貝類被穿織在一條條莖狀物之上。貝殼的背部已被去除，所以貝殼可輕易地被串在莖狀物之上。每一個貝殼大約 9 毫米長。莖狀物串成的貝珠錢可被切成不同等分的長度，以代表不同的價值。巴布亞新幾內亞各地均各自有不同的傳統貨幣，通常由不同種類的貝殼所製成。當代貝殼錢最常流通於婚禮或葬禮一類的特殊場合。在東新不列顛，貝珠錢也可以用於購買新鮮食物，人們會根據所要支付的款項，來選擇使用銀行貨幣或是貝珠錢來進行交易。
This is shell money, used in some islands of Papua New Guinea. Shell money like this is called diwara, tambu or tabu. Sometimes, people wear shell money as necklaces or earrings. This shell money is from the Duke of York Islands in East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. It features a series of Nassarius shells, threaded on to pieces of cane. The back of the shell has been removed so it can easily be threaded onto the cane. Each shell is about 9mm long. The cane has been cut to various lengths to indicate different values. Each place in Papua New Guinea has a different type of traditional money, usually made of different types of shells. Today, shell money is most often exchanged on special occasions, like weddings or funerals. In East New Britain, shell money is also used at markets to buy fresh food. Depending on what is being paid for, people may use bank currency as well as shell money.
Strathern, Andrew. 1978. Tambu and Kina: 'Profit', Exploitation and Reciprocity in Two New Guinea Ex- change Systems. Mankind. Vol. 11, Issue 3, pp. 253–264.
Gewertz, Deborah B. & Frederick K. Errington. 1995. Duelling Currencies in East New Britain: the Constructions of Shell Money as National Cultural Property. In Occidentalism: Images of the West, edited by James G. Carrier, pp. 161-191. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Errington, Frederic and Deborah Gewertz. 1995. Articulating Change in the “Last Unknown”. Boulder, CO: Westview.
