Stop 17 - Tiger Cowrie Shell

More than a hundred years ago, archaeologists in England excavated this cowrie shell from an Anglo Saxon burial. The cowrie shell itself was once a treasured possession. You can actually almost see or sense how people have held this shell, rubbing the surface, wearing away perhaps the beautiful polished decoration. It's more than a thousand years old. Originally the shell was alive somewhere in the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean. But it was collected and then traded, passing through many hands to eventually arrive in the rather colder climate of southern England. There, people who owned that shell may not have even understood where it had come from or even that it was once a living creature. For them, this was a magical, powerful, amulet on objects which were carried by women and children and placed in their graves when they died. We don't actually understand what these objects meant to these people but clearly they were incredibly treasured possessions – rare objects, from thousands of miles away. Objects of power to be placed in the grave, to be taken into the afterlife when you died.

“Tiger