What are oracle bones?
Oracle bones are turtle shells and ox shoulder blades used for divination in Shang Dynasty China (c. 1250–1046 BCE). Questions were inscribed on the bones, which were heated until they cracked. The cracks were interpreted as answers from ancestors and spirits. They bear the earliest known Chinese writing.
Oracle bones are among the most remarkable archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. They are turtle plastrons (belly shells) and ox scapulae (shoulder blades) inscribed with questions, heated until they cracked, and then interpreted by diviners to determine the will of ancestors and spirits. Tens of thousands of fragments have been recovered, primarily from the Shang royal capital at Anyang in northern China.
The divination process was elaborate and highly ritualized. A question would be carved into the prepared bone — "Will the harvest be good?" "Should the king go to war?" "Is a royal pregnancy auspicious?" The bone was then heated with a metal rod until it cracked. The patterns of the cracks were read by the diviner, and the answer was often inscribed alongside the original question.
The king himself served as chief diviner, reinforcing his role as the primary intermediary between the human and spiritual worlds. Oracle bone divination was not mere superstition — it was an integral part of Shang governance, used to guide decisions about warfare, agriculture, ritual, and diplomacy.
For historians, oracle bones are invaluable. They provide the earliest written records of Chinese civilization, confirming the existence of Shang kings mentioned in later texts and revealing details about military campaigns, astronomical observations, and daily life. The script used on oracle bones is a direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters — a continuous writing tradition spanning over three thousand years.