Oracle Bones: Ancient Chinese Divination and the Birth of Writing

What Are Oracle Bones?

Oracle Bones (甲骨文, Jiǎgǔwén) are pieces of turtle shell or animal bone that were used for divination during the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE) of ancient China. These sacred artifacts represent humanity's earliest attempts to communicate with the spiritual realm and are the origin of the Chinese writing system we know today.

The term "甲骨文" literally means: - 甲 (Jiǎ): Shell, specifically turtle plastron (the flat underside) - 骨 (Gǔ): Bone, typically ox scapulae (shoulder blades) - 文 (Wén): Script or writing

The Art of Bone Divination

The Divination Process

The Shang Dynasty diviners, known as "Bǔ Rén" (卜人 - literally "divination person"), followed an elaborate ritual:

Preparation: The diviner would carefully prepare a turtle shell or ox bone by polishing it smooth and drilling small pits into the underside.

The Question: The king or a high official would pose a question to the ancestors or deities. Common questions included:
- Will the harvest be successful?
- Should we go to war?
- Will the queen bear a son?
- What is causing the king's illness?

The Burning: A heated bronze rod was applied to the prepared pits. The intense heat caused the bone to crack.

Reading the Cracks: The pattern of cracks (called "卜" - bǔ, the pictograph of a crack) was interpreted as the answer from the spirits. The character 卜 itself is a pictograph of these divination cracks.

Recording: The question, the interpretation, and sometimes the outcome were carved into the bone using bronze or jade tools.

The Character "卜" (Bǔ)

The character 卜 is one of the oldest Chinese characters still in use today. It represents the crack made in an oracle bone during divination and means "to divine" or "divination." This simple symbol - a vertical line with a slanted line branching from it - captures the essence of the cracking pattern that the ancient diviners interpreted.

When you see 卜 today, you're looking at a 3,000-year-old symbol that connects modern Chinese to its shamanic origins.

Discovery of Oracle Bones

The Accidental Discovery

The modern discovery of oracle bones is a remarkable story. In 1899, Wang Yirong (王懿荣), a scholar and collector of antiquities, fell ill in Beijing. When his doctor prescribed traditional medicine containing "dragon bones" (龙骨), Wang noticed strange markings on the bone fragments.

Unlike other scholars who had dismissed these marks, Wang recognized them as an ancient form of Chinese writing. He traced the bones to their source: farmers in Yinxu (殷墟) near Anyang, Henan Province, who had been selling them as medicine for decades!

Archaeological Excavation

Since the 1920s, systematic excavations at Yinxu have unearthed over 150,000 oracle bone fragments, containing approximately 4,500 distinct characters. About 1,500 of these have been definitively deciphered.

In 2017, UNESCO inscribed the Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the Memory of the World Register, recognizing them as a documentary heritage of world significance.

The Birth of Chinese Writing

From Divination to Script

Oracle bone inscriptions represent the earliest substantial body of Chinese writing. The characters show a sophisticated writing system already in advanced development, suggesting even earlier origins that are now lost to history.

Many oracle bone characters are clearly pictographic: - 日 (rì - sun): A circle with a dot inside ☉ - 月 (yuè - moon): A crescent shape ☽ - 山 (shān - mountain): Three peaks △△△ - 水 (shuǐ - water): Flowing lines ≋ - 木 (mù - wood/tree): A tree with roots and branches 🌳

Evolution to Modern Chinese

The journey from oracle bone script to modern Chinese characters shows a fascinating evolution:

| Oracle Bone | Bronze | Seal | Regular | Meaning | |-------------|--------|------|---------|---------| | ☉ | 日 | 日 | 日 | Sun | | 🌙 | 月 | 月 | 月 | Moon | | 🐴 | 馬 | 馬 | 马 | Horse | | 🐢 | 龜 | 龜 | 龟 | Turtle |

Types of Oracle Bone Inscriptions

Royal Divinations

Most oracle bones record divinations performed for the Shang kings. Topics included:

Weather and Agriculture: - "Will it rain in the next ten days?" - "Should we plant millet this season?"

Military Campaigns: - "If we attack the Qiang people, will we be victorious?" - "Should the king personally lead the army?"

Royal Family Matters: - "Lady Hao is giving birth. Will it be fortunate?" - "What is causing the king's headache?"

Sacrifices and Rituals: - "Should we offer 30 cattle to Ancestor Yi?" - "Which day is auspicious for the ritual?"

Notable Finds

Lady Hao's Divinations: Oracle bones recording divinations about Fu Hao (妇好), one of the wives of King Wu Ding, reveal she was a military general who led troops into battle - remarkable for any era.

Eclipse Records: Some oracle bones record celestial events, providing valuable astronomical data for modern researchers.

Spiritual Significance

Ancestral Communication

The Shang people believed that their ancestors continued to influence the living world. Oracle bone divination was the primary method of communicating with these powerful spirits.

The ancestors could: - Bring fortune or misfortune - Cause illness or grant healing - Influence weather and harvests - Determine the outcome of military campaigns

The Role of Di (帝)

Above all ancestors was Di (帝), the supreme deity who controlled nature and human destiny. The king, as the intermediary between Di and humanity, had exclusive access to oracle bone divination.

Connection to Modern Eastern Divination

The Continuing Tradition

While oracle bone divination as practiced by the Shang is no longer common, its spiritual essence lives on in various Chinese divination practices:

I Ching (易经): The Book of Changes uses yarrow stalks or coins to generate hexagrams, continuing the tradition of seeking cosmic guidance.

Chinese Astrology: The belief that celestial patterns influence human affairs connects directly to Shang cosmology.

Temple Divination: Many Chinese temples still offer divination practices using fortune sticks (签筒), carrying forward the ancient quest to know the future.

Experience Ancient Wisdom Today

The oracle bones remind us that humans have always sought guidance beyond the visible world. The diviners of the Shang Dynasty asked the same fundamental questions we ask today: - What does the future hold? - What path should I take? - How can I achieve harmony with the cosmos?

At MysticEast, we honor this ancient tradition by combining timeless Eastern wisdom with modern AI technology. Our Oracle feature draws upon the spirit of ancient divination - offering guidance, reflection, and insight for your modern life.

The character 卜 that appears throughout our Oracle experience is not merely decoration - it's a direct connection to 3,000 years of human spiritual seeking.

Conclusion

Oracle bones represent a remarkable confluence of spiritual practice, historical record, and linguistic evolution. They remind us that the Chinese characters used by over a billion people today began as sacred marks carved by diviners seeking to understand the will of heaven.

When you ask a question of the Oracle, you participate in a tradition that stretches back to the bronze age, when priest-kings stood before turtle shells, seeking answers in the patterns of cracks, believing that the universe itself would speak through bone and fire.

Ready to seek wisdom from the ancient tradition? Visit our Oracle Bone Divination feature and discover what the cosmos has to say to you.