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Wang Yirong, Chinese politician and scholar, was the first to recognize the oracle bones as ancient writing.. Shang-era oracle bones are thought to have been unearthed occasionally by local farmers [14] since as early as the Sui and Tang dynasties, and perhaps starting as early as the Han dynasty. [15]
Oracle bone script is the oldest attested form of written Chinese, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC.Inscriptions were made by carving characters into oracle bones, usually either the shoulder bones of oxen or the plastrons of turtles.
The used oracle bones were deposited in pits at the Shang cult centre now known as Yinxu (near modern Anyang, Hebei) and forgotten for millennia. After Wang Yirong discovered in 1899 that ancient bone fragments on sale for medicinal purposes bore an early form of Chinese characters, there was great interest in
The form of early Chinese divination was pyro-osteomancy (or pyromancy), denoting burning animal bones to seek answers to human inquiries. [116] Oracle bone divination with scapulae and turtle shells was a source of state power for the late Shang dynasty (c. 1250 – 1046 BCE).
Yinxu is well known for its oracle bones, which were first recognized as containing ancient Chinese writing in 1899 by Wang Yirong, director of the Imperial Academy. [8] One account of Wang's discovery was that he was suffering from malaria at the time and was prescribed Longgu (龍骨) (dragon bones) at a traditional Chinese pharmacy. He ...
Searching Chinese pharmacies for new fossil specimens was "an established stratagem of fossil-hunters in the Far East." [6] Western investigation of dragon bones led to the discovery of Peking Man and Gigantopithecus blacki. [15] [16] Wang Yirong identified the ancient Chinese oracle script on long gu in 1899. [17]
Oracle bones serve as the primary source for studies of Shang religion. [2] They focused on the religious life of the king and the royal family. [3] A typical ritual would feature many key roles; David Keightley conjured such a ritual based on actual inscriptional records, attempting to reconstruct a ceremonial scene normally observed by the Shang court.
A large percentage of Zhou oracle bone inscriptions were created during the Predynastic Zhou, contemporary with the Late Shang state (c. 1250 – c. 1046 BCE). Most of the inscriptions produced date from the reign of the last Shang king, although the dates are still under debate. [21] A small portion of the bones date to the early Western Zhou ...