Oracle bone script: Difference between revisions

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{{Table Hanzi}}

'''Oracle bone script''' is the oldest attested form of [[written Chinese]], dating to the late 2nd millennium{{sbc}} BC. Inscriptions were made by carving [[Chinese characters|characters]] into [[oracle bone]]s, usually either the shoulder bones of oxen or the [[Turtle shell#Plastron|plastra of turtles]]. The writings themselves mainly record the results of official divinations carried out on behalf of the ruling [[Shang dynasty]] royal family. These divinations took the form of ''[[scapulimancy]]'' where the oracle bones were exposed to flames, creating patterns of cracks that were then subjected to interpretation. Both the prompt and interpretation were inscribed on the same piece of bone that had been used for the divination itself.

Out of an estimated 150,000 inscriptions that have been uncovered, the vast majority were unearthed at [[Yinxu]], the site of the final Shang capital (modern-day [[Anyang, Henan]]). The most recent major discovery was the Huayuanzhuang cache found near the site in 1993. Of the 1,608 Huayuanzhang pieces, 579 bear inscriptions.{{sfn|Shen|2002|p=86}} Each of the last nine Shang kings are named in the inscriptions{{efn|A few such shells and bones do not record divinations, but bear other records such as those of hunting trips, records of sacrifices, wars or other events , calendars, or practice inscriptions;{{harvnb|Xu|2002|pp=31, 34}} these are termed shell and bone inscriptions, rather than oracle bones, because no oracle (divination) was involved. However, they are still written in oracle bone script.}} beginning with [[Wu Ding]], whose accession is variously dated between 1250 and 1200{{sbc}}&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=2002 |title=The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project: Methodology and Results |journal=Journal of East Asian Archaeology |volume=4 |pages=321–333 |doi=10.1163/156852302322454585 |surname=Li |given=Xueqin}}</ref>{{sfn|Keightley|1978|p=228}} Oracle bone inscriptions corresponding to Wu Ding's reign have been radiocarbon dated to 1254–1197{{sbc}}&nbsp;BC (±10 years).<ref name="radiocarbon">{{Cite journal |last=Liu |first=Kexin |last2=Wu |first2=Xiaohong |last3=Guo |first3=Zhiyu |last4=Yuan |first4=Sixun |last5=Ding |first5=Xingfang |last6=Fu |first6=Dongpo |last7=Pan |first7=Yan |year=2020 |title=Radiocarbon Dating of Oracle Bones of the Late Shang Period in Ancient China |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/radiocarbon-dating-of-oracle-bones-of-late-shang-period-in-ancient-china/38A7B64D6D538A3A7B96F912BBEE9592 |journal=[[Radiocarbon (journal)|Radiocarbon]] |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=155–175 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314195458/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/radiocarbon-dating-of-oracle-bones-of-late-shang-period-in-ancient-china/38A7B64D6D538A3A7B96F912BBEE9592 |archive-date=2022-03-14}}</ref> Following the overthrow of the Shang by the [[Zhou dynasty]] in {{Circa|1046 BC}}, divination using [[Achillea millefolium|milfoil]] became more common; far fewer oracle bone inscriptions are dated to the Western Zhou.<ref>Nylan, Michael (2001). The five "Confucian" classics, p. 217</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Flad |first=Rowan K. |year=2008 |title=Divination and Power: A Multiregional View of the Development of Oracle Bone Divination in Early China |journal=Current Anthropology |language=en |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=403–437 |doi=10.1086/588495 |issn=0011-3204 |s2cid=62795316}}</ref>

The oracle bone inscriptions—along with several roughly contemporaneous bronzeware inscriptions using a different style—constitute the earliest corpus of Chinese writing, and are the direct ancestor of the [[Chinese family of scripts]] developed over the next three millennia.{{sfn|Boltz|1994|p=31}} 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. [[Oraculology]] is the study of [[oracle bone]]s and oracle bone script.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Yuxin |last2=Wei |first2=Jianzhen |publisher=[[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-7-500-48878-1 |___location=Beijing |script-title=zh:甲骨学导论 |trans-title=History of China historiography |oclc=690131145 |author-mask=Wang Yuxin (王宇信) |author-mask2=Wei Jianzhen (魏建震) |language=zh}}</ref>

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== Origins ==

{{main|Neolithic symbols in China}}

It is generally agreed that the tradition of writing represented by oracle bone script existed prior to the first known examples, due to the attested script's mature state. Many characters had already undergone extensive simplifications and linearizations, and techniques of semantic extension and phonetic loaning had also clearly been used by authors for some time, perhaps centuries. However, no clearly identifiable examples of writing dating prior to the 13th century{{sbc}}&nbsp;BC have been discovered. Sets of inscribed symbols on pottery, jade, and bone that have been discovered at a variety of Neolithic archeological sites across China have not been demonstrated any direct or indirect ancestry to the Shang oracle bone script at Anyang.{{sfn|Qiu|2000}}

== Style ==

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It is known that the Shang people also wrote with brush and ink, as brush-written graphs have been found on a small number of pottery, shell and bone, and jade and other stone items,{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=63}} and there is evidence that they also wrote on bamboo (or wooden) books{{efn|There are no such bamboo books extant before the late Zhou, however, as the materials were not permanent enough to survive.}} just like those found from the late Zhou to [[Han dynasty|Han]] periods, because the graphs for a writing brush ({{zhi|c=聿}} {{transliteration|zh|yù}}, depicting a hand holding a writing brush{{efn|The modern word {{zhi|c=筆}} {{transliteration|zh|bĭ}} is derived from a [[Qin (state)|Qin]] dialectal variant of this word {{harvnb|Baxter|Sagart|2014|pp=42–43}}.}}) and bamboo book ({{zhi|c=冊}} {{transliteration|zh|cè}}, a book of thin [[bamboo and wooden slips]] bound with horizontal strings, like a [[Venetian blind]] turned 90 degrees), are present in oracle bone inscriptions.{{sfnm|Qiu|2000|1p=63|Xu|2002|2p=12}}{{efn|As {{harvnb|Qiu|2000|pp=62–63}} notes, the ''Shangshu''{{'s}} "Duoshi" chapter also refers to use of such books by the Shang.}}

[[File:Heji 37986 Ganzhi table (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.66|Table of the Chinese sexagenary cycle inscribed on an ox scapula, dating to the reigns of the last two kings of the Shang dynasty during the first half of the 11th century{{sbc}}&nbsp;BC]]

Since the ease of writing with a brush is even greater than that of writing with a [[stylus]] in wet clay, it is assumed that the style and structure of Shang graphs on bamboo were similar to those on bronzes, and also that the majority of writing occurred with a brush on such books.{{sfnm|Qiu|2000|1p=63|Xu|2002|2p=12}} Additional support for this notion includes the reorientation of some graphs,{{efn|Identification of these graphs is based on consultation of {{harvnb|Zhao|1988}}, {{harvnb|Liu|1997}}, {{harvnb|Wu|1990}}, {{harvnb|Keightley|1978}}, and {{harvnb|Qiu|2000}}}} by rotating them 90 degrees, as if to better fit on tall, narrow slats. The style must have developed on books of bamboo or wood slats, and then carried over to the oracle bone script. Additionally, the layout of characters in columns from top to bottom is mostly carried over from bamboo books.{{sfn|Keightley|1978|p=50}} In some instances, characters are instead written in rows in order to match the text with divinatory cracks; in others, columns of text rotate 90 degrees mid-phrase. These are exceptions to the normal pattern of writing,{{sfnm|Qiu|2000|1p=67|Keightley|1978|2p=50}} and inscriptions were never read bottom to top.{{sfn|Keightley|1978|p=53}} Columns of text in Chinese writing are traditionally laid out from right to left; this pattern is first found with the Shang-era bronze inscriptions. However, oracle bone inscriptions are often arranged with columns beginning near the center of the shell or bone, then moving toward the edge such that the two sides mirror one another.{{sfn|Keightley|1978|p=50}}

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{{Further|Chinese bronze inscriptions}}

[[File:Zhou-inscription.png|thumb|right|upright|Hand copy of a Zhou inscription{{sfnm|Liu|1989|1p=67|Gao|1996|2p=327}}]]

There are relatively few oracle bone inscriptions dating after the conquest of the Shang by the [[Zhou dynasty]] ({{circa|1046{{sbc}}&nbsp;BC}}). From their initial discovery during the 1950s, only a handful of examples from this later period had been uncovered, and those that did were fragments consisting of only one or two characters. In August 1977, a cache containing thousands of Zhou-era oracle bones was discovered at a site closely linked to the ancient Zhou heartland. Among thousands of pieces, 200–300 bore inscriptions.

== Scholarship ==