Page 3 - A Narrative of the History of Roanoke Virginia

Among the most valuable were the tiny shells that house a small sea creature
scientifically known as a Cyrotopleura Costata. They usually bury themselves in the sand
several feet down. In order to find an attached pair of the shells, you usually must dig
them up alive. But sometimes when a wave breaks or during a storm, some will be
washed up on the sand. They immediately begin re-burying themselves. Once the animal
dies the two halves of the shells open up to form what looks like wings, hence the name
Angel's Wings. Because of the rarity of these shells, the tribe used to drill tiny holes in
them and string them into necklaces and bracelets.

But make no mistake. Because of their rarity they were like gold, silver and platinum of
today. They were valuable to the native Americans and as such were traded for goods just
as our currency is today. Here's the interesting part: while the most familiar term for this
shell money is
Wampum, the other
name, equally used
in olden times was
ROANOKE. The
attached pictures
show the various
sizes and shapes of
some “Roanoke",
which can range
from less than an
inch up to six
inches. Just like our
coinage, there were
distinct valuations,
depending on the
condition of the
shells. The most
valuable (see
attached pictures
FullAngelsWings
and
FullAngels2Wings)
were those with
both halves still
connected by the
thin joint. Less
valuable were still
the complete pair,
just not joined
(attached picture
sparatedpairs - left most picture). Least valuable were the single halves of the shells,
(right-hand picture), strung up as earrings (similar in value say to a quarter, a dime and a
penny).

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