Background Information

Oracle Bones

Grade Levels

College and Beyond, High School (9-12), Middle School (6-8)
Regions

China
Academic Topics

Beliefs, Rituals & Celebrations
Academic Subjects

History & Social Science, World Religions

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Oracle bones

Fragment of oracle bone, approx. 1300-1050BCE.

Fragment of oracle bone, approx. 1300-1050BCE. China; Henan province. Shang dynasty (approx. 1600-1050 BCE). Probably cattle bone. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60M501. This fragment reads: "There will perhaps not be [bad news] coming from the West. [Someone] will not die."

Fragment of oracle bone, approx. 1300-1050BCE.

Fragment of oracle bone, approx. 1300-1050BCE. China; Henan province. Shang dynasty (1600-1050 BCE). Probably cattle bone. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60M502. This fragment reads: "The Gongfang will not go on a great campaign [against us]. We should order 'Attack the Gong[fang].' We should not order 'Attack the Gongfang.' On the next jiaxu [day] it will perhaps rain."

While bronze vessels were the most visible implements used in the ancestor rites of the Shang dynasty (approx. 1600-1050 BCE), it was through oracle bones that actual communication with ancestors took place. These bones, primarily the shoulder blades of cattle and the undershells of turtles, were dried and had holes drilled in them at regular intervals.

A question was directed to an ancestor by applying a hot poker to these holes to make the surface crack. Specialists, usually a king or a members of a ruling family, would then read the appearance of the cracks to obtain the ancestor’s response. Both the question—in positive and negative forms—and the results were written on the surface of the oracle bone.

A vast “library” of these bones has been found near the Shang capital of Anyang in Henan province, China. More than forty-five thousand of them have been published so far. Most foretell births, deaths, rainfall, good harvests, the outcome of hunts and battles, and the meanings of dreams.