What do you think this necklace is made of?

Where do you think it came from?

When was it made?

This necklace was made from coral, string, and cowry shells. Coral is actually an animal, a marine invertebrate famous for building reefs under the sea that can reach enormous size, and act as housing for numerous other marine species. Cowry shells are from sea snails which produce egg-shaped shells which have often been used by human societies as currency.

The necklace was made in the early twentieth century in the South Seas, a large geographic region in the southern Pacific Ocean. It was donated to the Karshner Center in 1934.

For more information, visit:

• This artifact in the Karshner Digital Collections
• Artifact Worksheets you can use in your classroom or for homeschool
• Corals [NatGeo]
• Coral Reef Alliance