Approximately 13,000 engraved bones, 3,250 years old, were discovered in ancient China and were used to predict the future.
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They date from the late Shang dynasty, (c. 1250 BC to 1050 BC) — the earliest traditional Chinese dynasty for which archaeological evidence exists.
According to Chinese scholars, oracle bone artifacts were frequently excavated by later farmers in former Shang regions, and many were exhumed during burial ceremonies in the former Shang capital, Anyang, in Henan Province, China.
In the 19th century, villagers near Anyang discovered oracle bones that they thought were “dragon bones,” and large quantities of them were used in traditional medicine until they became valuable to antique dealers.
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Bones from ancient China were often made from tortoise shells, as in this photo, and ox shoulder blades. According to archaeologists, a diviner would carve a question into the bone with a sharp tool and then heat it until it cracked. He then claimed to interpret the cracks.
Bones and shells were reused until there was no more space, and thus more than 100,000 inscriptions are known.
The surviving oracle bones are the oldest form of Chinese writing in China. Many of the approximately 5,000 characters that appear on these bones are still used in modern Chinese (some versions of Chinese recognize tens of thousands of written characters), although some characters are still not fully understood. They were also used in Shang royal oracles, and scholars have used them to chart the Shang royal lineage.
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Oracle bones have also been found that predate the Shang Dynasty, and in 2003, some archaeologists said they had found “Neolithic oracle bones” dating back as far as 8,600 years ago.
Source: livescience
