What Pacific island used stone wheels as a form of money?

Yap islands
The Yap islands group is part of Micronesia and has a very peculiar currency: stone. Stone money known as “Rai” are large stone disks, sometimes measuring up to 4 meters, with a hole in the middle that was used for carrying them. It was and still is used as a trading currency there.

What are Yap stones?

A rai stone (Yapese: raay), or fei stone, is one of many large artifacts that were manufactured and treasured by the native inhabitants of the Yap islands in Micronesia. They are also known as Yapese stone money or similar names.

What island are giant limestone discs used as currency?

island of Yap
The Micronesian island of Yap has a famously unusual currency: hundreds of giant discs of rocks scattered all over the island, many of them too heavy to move.

What Stone was so valuable 4000 years ago that it was traded for from the quarry?

Because the site was underwater and undisturbed, researchers systematically and scientifically recovered the obsidian, a form of volcanic glass that was used and traded widely throughout much of human history as a prized material for making sharp tools.

How much are Rai stones worth?

Most stones are considered to be expensive, even the smaller ones; a 10-inch coin is worth about $6,000. Today, the most common currency traded in Yap is the U.S dollar. When Rai stones are used as currency they usually remain in the same location, thus showing that a transaction has been made.

How much is a Yap stone worth?

YAP Price Statistics

What is Yap famous for?

Yap is known for its stone money, known as Rai, or Fei: large doughnut-shaped, carved disks of (usually) calcite, up to 4 m (12 ft) in diameter (most are much smaller). The smallest can be as little as 3.5 centimetres (1.4 in) in diameter.

Who owns the island of Yap?

Yap is located in the western Caroline Islands, today part of the Federated States of Micronesia, about 850 miles east of Mindanao in the Philippines. This small island came under the control of Spain during its Age of Exploration and served as a source of copra — dried coconut meat from which coconut oil is extracted.

How did Native Americans get Obsidian?

In northern California, obsidian came down the Klamath River via the Shasta and the Karok Indians from the Achomawi, who got it at Medicine Lake, Location 7 (Heizer and Elsasser,1980,206).

How did Native Americans make obsidian arrowheads?

Native Americans made arrowheads using a chipping process called flint knapping. After the flint was selected, the large piece was cut down to size by a blow to the edge with a piece of hard stone. This is called percussion chipping and was repeated until the piece was thinned and shaped.

How much is a Yap stone?

YAP Price Statistics