Oracle bones: divination in the Shang dynasty

In the 19th century, farmers near Anyang in Henan province began turning up mysterious pieces of notched bones which they sold as dragon bones. In traditional Chinese medicine, dragon bones are used either whole or crushed to heal a variety of ailments.

The Shang rulers relied on a form of divination called scapulimancy, using shoulder-blades, to help them make decisions. Many of the bones discovered were later found to be the shoulder-blades of oxen, flat strips cut from the animal's leg-bones, or polished tortoiseshell pieces.

The bones were prepared by sawing and smoothing them, after which a groove would be cut by the diviner and a red-hot point would be applied to it. The way the bone cracked would be interpreted by the diviner, which in some instances, would be the Shang king himself. Since the questions were usually posed simply, the cracks were interpreted to give a yes/no or good/bad alternative.

In 1899, one of these dragon bones came into the hands of scholars who recognized that the signs on these bones were actually ancient writing. The bones were far more important than dragon bones, they were oracle bones used from the mid-Shang (ca. 1600 to 1100 BCE) to the early Zhou dynasty.

The discovery led to decades of uncontrolled digging in the area, with many of the bones ending up in collections abroad, until official excavation began in 1928. The site where the "dragon bones" were unearthed was later proven to be the seat of the Yin Dynasty, the name given to the later period of the Shang.

A replica of a tortoise shell oracle bone. (Image: Wikipedia)

Many of the oracle bones discovered had inscriptions on them. Diviners would make notes on the bones about what question was asked. Often, the questioner was concerned about issues of communal concern, such as when the most auspicious time for hunting, planting, sacrifices and going to war would be. Sometimes, the diviners would even give details of the result of the divination. The bones would then be put away and kept as a record of the divination done.

In 1936, archaeologists unearthed some 17,000 oracle bones strung in bunches. The "archive" has led to startling discoveries as well as proving that Chinese recorded history went further back than had previously been thought.

The Shang dynasty has been thought of as more mythic than real, but what was written on the oracle bones verified information given by Sima Qian, China's earliest historian, who wrote an account of thirty Shang rulers in 100 BC. The names of most of the rulers mentioned by Sima Qian have been found on these oracle bones.

And while earlier bronzes unearthed from Anyang show evidence of an even older form of writing, the oracle bones are considered the first significant body of writing. The characters found inscribed on them, over 4,000 characters, have proven to be the direct ancestors of modern Chinese script.

About 150,000 of these oracle bones are now in collections around the world. Of these, about 80,000 to 90,000 are in China, and another 20,000 in Taiwan.