Langa Langa Lagoon - Shell Money

Shell Money

The history of shell-money making in the Langa Langa lagoon is patchy. Stories retold from myths said that the first person to introduce shell money to the Langalanga lagoon was a woman from Buin in Bougainville. She was banished and floated in a coconut shell from Buin to Guadalcanal and finally to Malaita and landed at Tafilo, a village at Lalana near Laulasi. Traditionally, there had been substantive trade between the Langalanga people and people from Buin in shell money until the emergence of the Bougainville crises. Most of the private ship owners from the constituency generated capital through shell money trade to build their ships. They took shell money to Buin and traded it for cash and used the cash to build wooden boats.

As the production rate increased, shell resources were depleted, particularly in Langalanga lagoon. Even in the 1970s some types of shell were rare.

Four different types of shell are used in making shell money, A red lipped rock oyster known as "romu" (Chama pacifica in the family Chamidae), white shell known as "kee" (Beguina semiorbiculata in the Carditidae), black horse mussel shells called "kurila" (Atrina vexillum in the Pinnidae) and thick white disks from a rigid cockle known as "kakadu" (Anadara granosa in the Arcidae)