The oracle bones
Questions to the ancestors are cracked into ox bone, and Chinese writing appears fully formed.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 204 years
- Known to
- ± 30 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
Shang diviners inscribe questions on ox scapulae and turtle plastrons, apply heat until they crack, read the cracks as answers, and often record the outcome. Over 150,000 inscribed pieces are known, covering harvests, warfare, childbirth, weather and toothache. The script is already mature and is the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters — the only ancient writing system still in use. They were being ground up as dragon bones for medicine until a scholar recognised the marks in 1899.