What was the significance of oracle bones in shang civilization?
Answers
The oracle bones are important because they bear the earliest form of ancient Chinese writing and contain historically important information. From oracle bones scholars have learned the complete royal genealogy of the Shang dynasty. The bones were used in a ritual where diviners would inscribe questions to deities regarding many things some of which being questions about: future weather, crop planting, military endeavors, and similar topics. The questions were carved onto the bone or shells using a sharp tool in a language known as oracle bone script. The process of carving used a metal rod put under intense heat and was applied to the bone or shell until it cracked due to thermal expansion. The pattern of cracks would be interpreted by the diviner for meaning.