One half of a shell from a clam, with the exterior side a muddy-green colour. Shells such as this one are commonly used to prepare and contain plant medicines which have been burnt and mixed with oil by healers, or 'albolarios'. The knowledge about using shells has been passed down to healers from their ancestors. Philippines.
shell (natural object); medicine container
Collection Information
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
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