What Are Oracle Bones

The term “oracle bones” refers to pieces of animal bone or shell most commonly the shoulder blades (scapulae) of oxen or the flat undersides (plastrons) of turtle shells used in ancient China for divination.

These objects were not mere artifacts, but sacred tools: the bones (or shells) were prepared by cleaning and polishing, then carved or engraved with inscriptions.

The Divination Process: How Oracle Bones Were Used

The divination ritual typically followed this procedure:

A diviner often serving a king or the royal court inscribed a question onto the bone or shell. These questions could concern a wide array of matters: weather, harvest, hunting, warfare, royal affairs, and other events of significance.
The bone or shell would be drilled or grooved, then a heated rod or metal implement applied to produce controlled cracks via thermal stress.
The resulting patterns of cracks were interpreted as signs or messages from ancestors, deities, or supernatural forces. The diviner would then carve the interpreted answer onto the same bone or shell alongside verification if the predicted event came to pass.

In that sense, oracle bones served a dual function: medium for divination and as a record the very earliest known written records in Chinese history.

Historical and Archaeological Context: The Shang Dynasty and Yinxu

The Shang Dynasty, which ruled roughly from c. 1600 to 1046 BCE, is the earliest Chinese dynasty for which we have written records.
Most of the oracle bones discovered so far come from Yinxu, the final capital of the Shang, located near modern-day Anyang in Henan Province.
Archaeological excavations at Yinxu, beginning in 1928, uncovered thousands of oracle bones, along with remains of palaces, tombs, bronze workshops, and other evidence of a sophisticated, hierarchical society.

Through these finds, scholars have pieced together a more accurate picture of Shang-era statecraft, ritual practice, and daily life.

The Script: Oracle Bone Script (Jiǎgǔwén) and Its Legacy

One of the most significant aspects of oracle bones is that their inscriptions constitute the earliest known substantial body of Chinese writing.

The writing system used, Oracle Bone Script, is a logographic system — the ancestor of modern Chinese characters.
In total, researchers have found hundreds of thousands of bone and shell fragments with inscriptions — amounting to hundreds of thousands of characters.
Many characters inscribed on oracle bones evolved into the Chinese characters used today; some remain nearly unchanged.
Through these inscriptions scholars can trace the lineage of modern Chinese writing back over three millennia, and also glean invaluable information about the language, culture, rituals, governance, and beliefs of ancient China.

Indeed, the script demonstrates that by the time of the Shang Dynasty, Chinese civilization had already developed a sophisticated writing system — contradicting earlier skepticism that attributed early Chinese civilization only mythological status.

What Oracle Bones Reveal About Shang Society, Religion, and Governance

The content of the inscriptions reveals much:

The questions carved into oracle bones show that rulers frequently consulted ancestral or divine powers before making important decisions — offering insight into the Shang worldview, which combined political power with religious legitimacy.
The multitude of inscriptions across hundreds of bones has allowed modern scholars to reconstruct the royal genealogy of the Shang kings — mapping out succession lines, reigns, and major events in Shang history. unesco.org+2Βικιπαίδεια+2
The bones also document daily concerns: weather, agriculture, warfare, hunting expeditions, royal hunts, sacrifices, and rituals — offering a window into both elite and practical daily matters of Shang-era life.
Through these records, historians have been able to confirm that the Shang Dynasty — once considered semi-mythical — was a real, organized polity with structured administration, rituals, and writing.

Why Oracle Bones Still Matter Today

They are the earliest extensive records of Chinese writing — critical not only for language studies, but also for understanding the formation of Chinese civilization, state structure, and social order.
The depth and detail of the inscriptions — from royal decrees to weather forecasts — make oracle bones a unique archive of ancient daily life, governance, belief systems, and priorities of a civilization over 3,000 years ago.
For archaeologists and linguists, oracle bones remain a primary source for tracing the evolution of Chinese characters, grammar, and the continuity of linguistic tradition. Βικιπαίδεια+2Βικιπαίδεια+2
As a result, they form a cornerstone of our understanding of early East Asian history and cultural development.

Conclusion: Between Divination and History

Oracle bones are far more than relics of superstition or occult practices they are the first chapters of recorded Chinese history. Through the ritual of divination, followed by careful inscription, the rulers of the Shang Dynasty unintentionally preserved a treasure trove of information for future generations. Today, the study of these fragments helps us reconstruct an ancient world: revealing the politics, beliefs, language, and everyday life of one of humankind’s earliest sophisticated civilizations.