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Lore & Background

The oracle bone script—along with several roughly contemporaneous bronzeware inscriptions using a different style—constitutes the earliest corpus of Chinese writing, and is the direct ancestor of the Chinese family of scripts developed over the next three millennia. Their study is essential for the research of Chinese etymologies. It is also the direct ancestor of over a dozen East Asian writing systems. The length of inscriptions ranges from 10 to over 100 characters, but a few dozen is typical. The subjects of concern in inscriptions are broad, and include war, ritual sacrifice, and agriculture, as well as births, illnesses, and deaths in the royal family. As such, they provide invaluable insights into the character of late Shang society. Each of the last nine Shang kings are named in the inscriptions beginning with Wu Ding, whose accession is variously dated between 1250 and 1200 BC. Oracle bone inscriptions corresponding to Wu Ding's reign have been radiocarbon dated to 1254–1197 BC (±10 years). Following the overthrow of the Shang by the Zhou dynasty in c. 1046 BC, divination using milfoil became more common; far fewer oracle bone inscriptions are dated to the Western Zhou. No Zhou-era sites with a comparable cache of inscriptions to Yinxu have been found; however, examples from this period appear to be more widespread, having been found near most major population centers. New sites have continued to be discovered since 2000.

In Their Own Story

The most recent major discovery was the Huayuanzhuang cache found near the site in 1993. Of the 1,608 Huayuanzhang pieces, 579 bear inscriptions. The common Chinese term for oracle bone script is 甲骨文 (jiǎgǔwén 'shell and bone script'), which is an abbreviation of 龜甲獸骨文字 (guījiǎ shòugǔ wénzì 'turtle-shell and animal-bone script'). This term is a translation of the English phrase 'inscriptions upon bone and tortoise shell', which had been coined by the American missionary Frank H. Chalfant (1862–1914) in his 1906 book Early Chinese Writing, which first appeared in Chinese books during the 1930s. In earlier decades, Chinese authors used a variety of names for the inscriptions based on the name of Yinxu, their purpose (卜 bǔ 'to divine'), or the method of inscription (契 qì 'to engrave'). A previously common term was 殷墟卜辭 (Yīnxū bǔcí 'Yinxu divinatory texts').

Reader's Guide

Oraculology (甲骨学; 甲骨學; jiǎgǔxué) is the study of oracle bones and oracle bone script. It is a humanities discipline that focuses on the Chinese Upper Antiquity oracle characters. Oracle bone science is the study of oracle bone script itself; it is a discipline of paleography. This includes the integration of theories, research methods and materials from various disciplines, such as history, archaeology, historical culture, historical literature, and cultural anthropology, to thoroughly study the historical and cultural background of the oracle bones and some of the patterns of the oracle bone divination. It is a diversified and specialized discipline. In the early days of oracle bone discovery, oracle bones were called qiwen, and the study of oracle bones was called qiology. In 1931, Zhou Yitong proposed for the first time that 'oracle bone science' was an independent discipline. Wang Yuxin emphasized that oracle bones are precious cultural relics and historical materials left over from the ancient period, but their value for archaeological and historical research lies in orthography beyond script interpretation, which has become increasingly recognized by scholars as orthography develops. Oracle bone science is a systematic and scientific inquiry into the inherent laws of the oracle bone script itself and uses it as a basis for glimpsing the history, society, and customs of the ancient world. The oracle bones should not be confused with orthography.

Did You Know?

• The oracle bone script is the oldest attested form of written Chinese, dating to the late 2nd millennium BC.
• Out of an estimated 150,000 inscriptions uncovered, the vast majority were unearthed at Yinxu, the site of the final Shang capital.
• The most recent major discovery was the Huayuanzhuang cache found in 1993, with 579 of its 1,608 pieces bearing inscriptions.
• The term 'oracle bone script' is a translation of a phrase coined by American missionary Frank H. Chalfant in his 1906 book Early Chinese Writing.
• Oracle bone inscriptions corresponding to Wu Ding's reign have been radiocarbon dated to 1254–1197 BC (±10 years).