🤯 Did You Know (click to read)
The oracle bone script is recognized as a direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters.
Discovered at Anyang in the late 19th century, oracle bones date primarily to the reigns of late Shang kings around 1200 BCE. These inscriptions were carved onto turtle plastrons and ox scapulae. Diviners applied heat to create cracks and interpreted them as answers from ancestors. The questions covered warfare, harvests, childbirth, and royal decisions. After divination, scribes recorded both question and outcome. The script shows clear structural continuity with later Chinese characters. Writing was integrated into governance and ritual. Record keeping stabilized political memory. Language crystallized authority.
💥 Impact (click to read)
Oracle bone inscriptions provide primary evidence for Shang chronology and political organization. They confirm names of kings later recorded in historical texts. Literacy reinforced centralized religious authority. Divination formalized decision-making processes. Writing institutionalized communication between court and ancestors. Bureaucratic habits began in ritual context. Text anchored statecraft.
For diviners, cracks in bone carried immense consequence. The irony lies in durability: questions about weather and warfare survived millennia while the voices that asked them vanished. Individual anxieties became permanent record. Ritual uncertainty turned into archaeological certainty. Writing preserved doubt as data. Power inscribed fear. Script outlived dynasty.
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