Schelpen in de geschiedenis en kunst van Egypte en de Soedan. (deel 3)

Cowries were imitated in gold, silver and electrum (an alloy of gold and silver) and richly decorated with precious stones in very complex designs, or miniaturized for use as amulets in the necklaces of royal and noble women. The type survived into the Eighteenth Dynasty (1567 -1318 BC), at which time earrings of shell were also being manufactured. A tomb from the first half of the Twenty-second Dynasty (945-715 SC) again yielded gold cowrie-beads after a break of approximately one thousand years and cowries remained in vogue under the Kushite kings of Napata and Meroe, at least until the beginning of the Christian Era.