Rai Stones

About this place

Rai stones are large stone discs with a hole in the middle that the people of the Yap Islands in Micronesia treated as money. You see them lined up in «banks» along roads and old stone paths in the villages, weathered grey, among coconut palms and thatched houses. The stones were carved from calcite, mostly quarried in Palau and carried to Yap by canoe, a practice that stopped in the early 20th century. Most are 30 to 50 cm across; the largest, on Rumung island, is 3.6 m across and weighs 4 tonnes. About 6,000 large stones remain on Yap. When a stone is given, it does not move; ownership passes through a story people remember, which is why economists use it as an example of money's value resting on shared belief. The bank nearest the capital is at Balabat, with stones standing along the road. Other villages have banks on old stone paths near traditional men's houses. The Balabat bank is about 1.5 km in a straight line south of Colonia. You may touch the stones, but do not sit or climb on them. Villages belong to their people, so ask permission before entering, and some may ask a small fee.