A rai stone ( yap, raay), or fei stone, is one of many large artifacts that were manufactured and treasured by the native inhabitants of the

Yap Yap ( yap, Waqaab) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federated States of Micr ...

islands in Micronesia. They are also known as Yapese stone money or similar names. The typical rai stone is carved out of crystalline

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and is shaped as a disk with a hole in the center. The smallest may be in diameter. The largest extant stone is located on Rumung island, near the Riy village; it is in diameter and thick, and weighs . Rai stones were quarried on several of the Micronesian islands, mainly

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

, but briefly on Guam as well. The practice stopped in the early 20th century. Today there are around 6,000 large rai stones outstanding in the island, and several can be seen in museums around the world. The stones were highly valued by the Yapese, and used for important ceremonial gifts. The ownership of a large stone, which would be too difficult to move, was established by its history as recorded in oral tradition, rather than by its location. Appending a transfer to the oral history of the stone thus effected a change of ownership. Rai stones have been viewed by modern economists as a form of money, and are often used as an example to support the thesis that the value of some form of money can be assigned purely through shared belief in said value.

Names

Originally the name "rai" was used in the northern part of Yap, and "fei" in the southern part. The names are also transcribed as "rei" and "fai", respectively, and are often capitalized. In

, the stones are called '.Rainbird, 2004. In the 20th century, the name "fei" fell into disuse. The name "rai" could mean "whale" in Yapese. This may be a reference to one of the origin legends, in which the first stones were shaped like fish.

Physical description

Rai stones are approximately round, although some more recent ones are rather elongated.Muller, 1917.Beauclair, 1963. In the best-worked ones, the thickness decreases from center to the rim, gradually or in two or three steps. The central hole has about 1/6 of the diameter of the stone. Sometimes there are additional holes off center.Furness, 1910. The diameter varies from to , but most are between . The stones are made of light-colored crystalline rock consisting of calcium carbonate. Stones with brown or white streaks were particularly prized. Weathered stones are dull gray. Earlier reports incorrectly state that the material is

aragonite Aragonite is a carbonate mineral, one of the three most common naturally occurring crystal forms of calcium carbonate, (the other forms being the minerals calcite and vaterite). It is formed by biological and physical processes, including pre ...

, the most common mineral in coral and sea shells, and in rocks derived thereof. Modern analysis revealed that the mineral is in fact calcite.Scott M. Fitzpatrick (2001): "Archaeological investigation of Omis Cave: a Yapese stone money quarry in Palau". ''Archaeology of Oceania'', volume 36, pages 153–162.Scott M. Fitzpatrick et al. (2006). The stone occurs in Palau as deposits slowly formed on the walls of some caves by percolating rainwater ( speleothems, specifically flowstones). Tectonic activity millions of years ago lifted limestone deposits out of the sea, and these were eroded by rainwater forming a typical cave-riled karst geology.Scott M. Fitzpatrick (2013),
An Archaeological Study on the Extraction of Flowstone from Caves and Rockshelters for Producing Stone Money in Western Micronesia
. ''Cave and Karst sciences'', volume 30, issue 2, pages 75–82.

Use and value

Rai stones were, and still are, used in rare important social transactions, such as marriage, inheritance, political deals, sign of an alliance, ransom of the battle dead, or, rarely, in exchange for food. Many of them are now placed in front of meetinghouses, around village courts, or along pathways. Although the ownership of a particular stone might change, the stone itself is rarely moved due to its weight and risk of damage. Thus the physical location of a stone was often not significant: ownership was established by shared agreement, and could be transferred even without physical access to the stone. Each large stone had an oral history that included the names of previous owners. In one instance, a large rai being transported by canoe and outrigger was accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor. Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as any other stone. The perceived value of a specific stone was based on not only its size and craftsmanship, but also its history. The value could depend, for instance, on whether it was brought by a famous sailor, or whether people died during its transport.

History

Origin legends

The story of the origin of the rai stones survives only in Yapese oral legends. According to one version, about 500–600 years ago

Anagumang Anagumang was a legendary Yapese navigator who led an expedition in rafts and canoes five or six hundred years ago. On this expedition he discovered the islands of Palau and brought stones from Palau to Yap. Expedition Anagumang hired seven men ...

, a Yapese from Tomil island, was instructed by the divinity Le-gerem to travel by boat with seven companions to the mythical island of Magaragar south of Palau, where they found a sparkling stone. According to some variants, the stones were first cut in various shapes, such as fish, lizard, turtle, or crescent moon. But eventually they settled for the shape of a full moon, with a hole at the center for transport. reprinted in Mankiw, N. Gregory. ''Essentials of Economics, Third Edition.'' Mason: South-Western, 2004. pp. 454–455 In another version, the discovery expedition was headed by Anagumang and a Fatha'an from Yap's Rull island.Fitzpatrick and McKeon (2019). A different legend attributes the discovery to chance, by a group of fishermen who were driven to Palau by a storm. According to one variant, they fashioned a fish from the local sparking stone and took it to the king of Rull, as a substitute for the fish that they failed to catch. A separate legend tells that, before the Palau quarries were discovered, the inhabitants of the village of Talangeth on Map island attempted to make rai stones from the local quartzite rock, but the attempts were abandoned due to clan wars.Robert D. Leonard (1993),
The Stone Money Of Yap
. ''Quarterly Journal of the Central States Numismatic Society'', volume 41, issue 1, pages 31–34.

Archaeological and anthropological evidence

It is unknown how long the rai stones have been used in Yap. Flat rocks have been found there that are up to 2000 years old, but the oldest do not resemble today's rai stones, and it is not known how they were used. An alternative hypothesis for the origin of rai stones is that they may have evolved from smaller carved beads. Two disks (without holes) measuring and were found and radiocarbon-dated 1636±200 and 1756±200 respectively. However, the relation between these objects and the rai stones is not clear.E. W. Gifford and D. S. Gifford (1959): "Archaeological Excavations in Yap", ''Anthropological Records'', volume 18, issue 2, pages 149–224. Calcite speleothems do not occur on the Yap islands, which consist mostly of metamorphic rock rather than limestone. However, there are small veins of marble, a crystalline calcite rocks of metamorphic origin, that has a sparkling appearance similar to that of the Palau flowstones. It has been conjectured that the Yapese originally came to value crystalline calcite from these sources, before discovering the much more abundant deposits in the Palau caves.Bosiljka Glumac and Scott Fitzpatrick (2020),
Yapese stone money: Local marble as a potential inspiration for producing limestone exchange valuables in Palau, Micronesia
. Chapter of ''Cultures of Stone: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Materiality of Stone'', , pages 65–78. Archaeologists have identified quarries used by the Yapese in a relatively small region of Palau, spanning the southern end of

Babeldaob Babeldaob (also Babelthuap) is the largest island in the island nation of the Republic of Palau. It is in the western Caroline Islands, and the second largest island (after Guam) in the Micronesia region of Oceania. Palau's capital, Ngerulmud, i ...

and the northern part of Koror. Some rai stones were found elsewhere in Palau, but the quarries, if any, had not been found as of 2006. Excavations were carried out at the quarries of Omis Cave on the island of Oreor, Chelechol ra Orrak and Upper Orrak on the island of Orrak, and Metuker ra Bisech on the island of the same name. The first two sites, caves/coves that open on the beach, appear to have been exploited before contact with Europeans, although the dates could not be determined. The other two sites are located uphill, at some distance from the beach. Quarrying at Metuker ra Bisech appears to have started only around 1700 CE, after the Yapese acquired iron tools. A large stone (3.5 m diameter, 20 cm thick) that apparently broke while being removed from the quarry at Metuker ra Bisech was abandoned on the spot.

Native manufacture

Stone Money of Uap, 1903, Jayne, String Figures, p

Rai stone production was well developed by the 19th century. Expeditions to Palau, consisting of tens of young men, authorized or commanded by a village chief, would last up to several years and could result in death of members at the quarries or during the sea voyage. According to some accounts, on their return, the largest stones and 2/5 of the smaller ones were handed over to the chief, and the men were rewarded with baskets of taro. Palau lies 400 km west of Yap on a straight line. According to later oral accounts from Yap and Palau, the Yapese first mined on the small island of Magaragár (Ngaragasemiěg), because they were afraid to land on the larger nearby island of

Peleliu Peleliu (or Beliliou) is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu, along with two small islands to its northeast, forms one of the sixteen states of Palau. The island is notable as the location of the Battle of Peleliu in World War II. H ...

. Eventually the Palau natives gave the Yapese permission to quarry, in exchange for heavy labor and a few other items they brought from Yap. A report from 1903 claims that a large paved road in the island of Koror was built by the Yapese. In the quarries, the stones were cut out from the wall deposits of calcite as rough upright disks. It seems that they were then propped up against natural or artificial walls for shaping, finishing and polishing. The rough work appears to have been done with

pickaxe A pickaxe, pick-axe, or pick is a generally T-shaped hand tool used for prying. Its head is typically metal, attached perpendicularly to a longer handle, traditionally made of wood, occasionally metal, and increasingly fiberglass. A stand ...

s or

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

s, with blades 1 to 3 cm wide, made of stone or of the shell of large clams such as '' Tridacna''.Alfred F. Pawlik, Philip J. Piper, Rachel E. Wood, Kristine Kate A. Lim, Marie Grace Pamela G. Faylona, Armand Salvador B. Mijares and Martin Porr (2015:
Shell tool technology in Island Southeast Asia: an early Middle Holocene ''Tridacna'' adze from Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines
. ''Antiquity'', volume 89, issue 344, pages 292–308. . According to oral traditions, the central hole was made with a coral reef stone used as a "fire drill", presumably a large bow drill. (While the clam shells and coral are made of calcium carbonate too, they consist of the aragonite form, which is harder than the stone's calcite (3.5–4.0 and 3.0 in the

Mohs hardness scale The Mohs scale of mineral hardness () is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by th ...

, respectively). The expeditions traveled to Palau by canoes. On the return, the stones could be carried by canoe or (for the larger specimens) on bamboo

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

s. Since the raft was slow and poorly steerable, it was usually let loose in advance to be carried towards Yap by sea currents, while the men left some time later in canoes, on its pursuit. This return route could be more than 1000 km long. The expedition would eventually recover the raft in the vicinity of Yap and tow it to the islands. Stones were often lost at sea. These methods of transport apparently limited the diameter of stones to 2 metres or less and 2 tons of weight.}Leslie C. Hazell (2013): "Transporting Stone Money in Micronesia". Chapter in ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'', . It is reported that the stones were transported on land by inserting a log or bamboo through the hole, which was carried on the shoulders of several men. Carried this way, the largest stones would have needed hundreds of men to transport, suggesting the more likely possibility that the largest stones were rolled, akin to wheels on an axle.

European discovery

The earliest reports by western Jesuits of what could be the Yapese rai stones date from the early 1700s. A report of a European expedition in 1815–1818 mentions that the Yap islands produce "grinding stones", that are used by chieftains as thrones, with one stone serving as seat and another as the back rest. The first clear report of a rai stone is from a British ship log entry dated 23 August 1843. The ship carried a delegation from Palau, headed by chieftain Abba Thulle, who was delivering a rai stone as a diplomatic gift to the "prime minister" of Yap and a cadre of Tomil chieftains. The ship's captain Andrew Cheyne notes that the stone was highly valued since it could be found only in the mountains of Palau. While referring to the stone as a "gift of money", Andrew did not mention seeing any other rai stone during his stay at Yap. His commercial agent Alfred Tetens reported in his memoirs that, in 1865, he transported ten Yapese from Palau to Yap, who were carrying 20 large blocks and many smaller ones, a few cm in diameter, to be used as currency.

Manufacturing after European contact

Contact with Europeans in the 19th century first provided the Yapese at Palau with iron tools, that made the cutting and shaping of the stones much easier. Not much later, the Yapese made deals with Europeans to use their ships to transport the stones back to Yap. These arrangements enabled the manufacture of much larger and heavier rai stones, up to 4 meters in diameter, as well of a larger number of them. However, these "modern" stones were less valuable than more ancient ones. In 1871, the Irish-American David Dean O'Keefe was shipwrecked near Yap and was helped by the natives. Later, he assisted the Yapese in acquiring rai stones and in return received copra and trepang, which were valuable exports in the Far East. The book ''His Majesty O'Keefe'' is the story of his life on Yap. A film of the same name starring Burt Lancaster was made in 1954.''His Majesty O'Keefe'' on IMDb
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End of manufacture

The trade for rai stones eventually stopped at the beginning of the 20th century due to trade disputes between Spanish and German interests in the area. Quarries were abandoned. When

Imperial Japanese The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

forces took over Yap during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, they used some of the stones for construction or as anchors. Although modern currency has replaced the stones as everyday currency, the rai stones are still exchanged in traditional ways between the Yapese. They are a

national symbol A national symbol is a symbol of any entity considering and manifesting itself to the world as a national community: the sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of colonial or other dependence, federal integration, or even an e ...

and are depicted on local

license plate A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate (Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificatio ...

Economic interpretation

In a 1991 paper, economist Milton Friedman argued that while the Yap system of immobile money might seem bizarre at first glance, it was not so different from the operation of the gold vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which can pay gold from one government to another without the gold ever leaving the vault. Demands by the government of France for such payment from the United States in 1932 contributed to a nationwide bank panic, proving that industrialized countries could fall under the sway of economic rituals as surely as the Yap islanders. A 2022 study points to inconsistencies, errors and omissions in many Western economic accounts of stone money, including Friedman's, stating that when "Yap has appeared in Western political economy, the lessons which authors draw often reflect their position in intellectual and political disputes which are not principally rooted in Yapese history or economics."

Gallery

File:Rai stone from Yap currency.jpg, Rai stone at the Bank of Canada Currency Museum in Ottawa File:Yapese stone money 2007.jpg, Rai stone at Yap File:Yap Stone Coin, British Museum.jpg, Yap stone, British Museum, London File:Presentation of Yapese stone money for FSM inauguration.jpg, Presentation of Yapese rai stone for Federated States of Micronesia inauguration File:Yap license plate 2000 series.jpg, Stone depicted on Yap license plate File:HH1883 pg125 Hafen von Jap.jpg, Rai stone transport to Yap Island (1880)

References

Bibliography

* Bryan, Michael F. (2004-02-01). "Island Money". ''Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland'', 1 February 2004. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20110927230430/http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/commentary/2004/0201.pdf. * Murphy, Geri (2011). "Yap's Amazing Stone Money". ''Sport Diver'', 2011. Retrieved from http://www.sportdiver.com/keywords/yaps/yaps-amazing-stone-money. * Poole, Robert Michael (2018). The tiny island with human-sized money. ''BBC Travel'', www.bbc.com, 2018. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20180502-the-tiny-island-with-human-sized-money.