Discovery
To understand what are these oracle bones, we will go through the history of its discovery in the beginning of the 20th century.
In 1899 CE the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, Wang Yirong (1845-1900 CE), became sick with malaria. He asked his doctor for medicine and was sent to an apothecary for the best-known remedy: dragon’s bones. This medicine was supposed to be made from the ancient bones of dragons and had mystical properties for healing.
“Dragon bones” were an expensive but not uncommon remedy in Beijing pharmacies. They were prescribed in powdered form, but on this occasion, the antiquarian Wang Yirong acquired a piece of unground bone. The piece was clearly a real bone, but it had inscriptions on its surface. Wang, along with his friend Liu E (劉鶚, 1857-1909), recognized the inscriptions as ancient writing and began investigating with sellers to obtain more whole pieces. However, access to the bones was denied by the pharmacists, who preferred to keep the origin of their medicine a secret.
In 1903, after Wang Yirong had passed away, Liu E published the first book with prints of these inscriptions from the bone fragments he had managed to find. The “dragon bones” became sought after by collectors, and a strong trade of these fragments emerged. These were, sadly, not dragon bones. They were scapulas of oxen and turtle shells, but they were indeed very old pieces.
It was only in 1908 that the origin of the bones was discovered near the village of Xiaotun (小屯) in the Anyang region (安阳市), where thousands of fragments were found. At the time, there was much controversy regarding the authenticity of the discovery, and there may have been many forgeries due to the trade in these bones.
Interpretation
However, in 1928, two decades later, the Chinese Academy of Sciences began scientific excavations in the region and confirmed that Anyang was the capital of the Shang dynasty and that the bones dated to the same period. The Shang dynasty lasted about 600 years (approximately 1600-1046 BCE), directly preceding the Zhou dynasty under King Wen, who had overthrown the Shang.
The inscriptions are some of the earliest manifestations of the Chinese language, and many characters show up for the first time carved on these bones. These are oracle documents, meaning records of divination.
In Shang China, a bone or shell, having been carefully sown to shape, was burnished on the obverse and had hollows chiselled out on the reverse. […] The application of heat to the hollows on the reverse produced characteristic ├ shaped cracks on the obverse; this is the origin of the Chinese character bu 卜 (‘to make divination’). The diviner interpreted the cracks as the answer to his questions, which were engraved on the polished surface alongside the cracks. Some inscriptions were also colored in with red pigment
These divinations were carried out at the court of the Shang kings, and many of the questions were about military ventures, agriculture, or journeys and partnerships. In addition, there are records of dates, meteorological and astrological information, including one of the earliest accounts of a solar eclipse.
Click here to see the bones in detail at the University of Cambridge Digital Library
(Item: CUL.1,52,155)
There is no direct connection between the texts of these inscriptions and the text of the Yijing, from the Zhou period. But the discovery of these bones reveals that divination in China dates back much further than previously evidenced. The records of divination would reappear throughout Chinese history in a structure similar to that found on the bones: containing the date of the consultation, sometimes the name of the consultant, the content of the “question,” the prognosis of the diviner, and sometimes a subsequent account updating the oracle on its efficacy.
The oracle “dragon” bones are fascinating fragments of history which, much like the Book of Changes, the Yijing itself, offers insight into early divination practices in equal measure that it leaves us wondering, surrounded by enigmas.