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Oracle Bones

Oracle Bones (also known as Dragon's Bones) were the shoulder blades of oxen or plastrons of turtles (the flat underside of the turtle's shell) which were used in the Shang Dynasty of China (c. 1600-1046 BCE) for divination. The symbols carved on the bones eventually became words and a recognizable Chinese script developed from this practice.

A fortune-teller would carve (later, paint) symbols on the bones of the ox or the turtle shell, apply a hot poker or fire until the bone or shell cracked, and then interpret the direction of the crack through their drawing to predict the future. Most of the oracle bones discovered come from the Shang Dynasty but some are from the early Zhou Dynasty (1046-226 BCE). The practice of telling the future through oracle bones is known as scapulimancy (telling the future through the scapula, the shoulder bone, of an animal), plastromancy (using a turtle's plastron) or pyromancy (the use of fire). These methods all declined when the book known as the I-Ching (a fortune-telling manual which uses hexagrams and yarrow sticks) became more popular in the Zhou Dynasty.

Oracle bones continued to be used in later dynasties but not as regularly as during the Shang. These bones are important primary sources on the history of the Shang Dynasty and gave birth to Chinese script. Historian Harold M. Tanner writes, "oracle bones are the earliest written records of Chinese civilization. The inscriptions give us a highly selective picture of some of the concerns and events that were relevant to the Shang elite. The earliest of these records date to the reign of King Wu Ding in the late Shang (40)." Even though everyone was interested in what the future held, questions from the wealthier classes in China make up the majority of the inscriptions. This is probably because they could afford to consult the psychics more often than the poor.

Use of Oracle Bones

The desire to know the future has been a constant in human history and the people of China during the Shang Dynasty were no different along these lines than people today. Fortune-telling during the Shang Dynasty was considered an important resource in making decisions, and these 'psychics' were consulted by everyone from the farmer to the king. These fortune-tellers were thought to be in touch with the spirit world of the ancestors who lived with the gods and knew the future. These spirits would communicate with the psychics through the oracle bones. Each fortune-teller had his or her area of expertise (love, money, work, etc.) but could answer questions on any topic.

Fortune-tellers either got the bones and shells themselves (and prepared them) or bought them from a merchant who scraped and cleaned them. The bones/shells were then kept in the fortune-teller's shop. If someone wanted to know whether they should take their cattle to market, or go visit a friend on a certain date, they would visit a fortune-teller who could predict how well their plans would work out.

The person would ask the fortune-teller a question like "Should I bring my oxen to market next month?" and the fortune-teller would carve the symbols for the person, oxen, the next month, and maybe a later month on the turtle shell or bone. A hole would be drilled in the object and a hot poker would be applied, or the shell/bone placed near fire until it cracked. If the crack went one way it would mean the person should go to market with the animals, and if it went another way they should wait.

People relied on these fortune-tellers to help them make decisions about all kinds of choices in their lives from matchmaking to having children, to travel and financial decisions, and even to making war. People consulted fortune-tellers back then the same way they check their horoscopes in modern newspapers or the internet today to see what the day holds in store. There were symbols carved on the bones which meant 'good day' and 'bad day', and a person could consult a fortune-teller in the morning to see which kind of day they had in front of them. The oracle bones found thus far date from c. 1250-1046 BCE and give all kinds of important information about the Shang Dynasty.