In Shang dynasty China, around 3,200 years ago, diviners carved questions into ox bones and turtle shells, then heated them until they cracked. The cracks were read as answers.
Truth label: Established. Strong evidence and broad agreement among experts.
Go deeper
The oldest Chinese writing
The carved questions are the earliest large body of Chinese writing we have. Many characters are still recognisable today.
Found by accident
For years the bones were ground up and sold as "dragon bones" for medicine, until a scholar noticed the writing in 1899.
Try it soon
Ancient ways of reading the unknown are coming to CurioUS. Tap the bookmark to hear first.
Learn
- What they asked. Will it rain? Will the harvest be good? Will the king's toothache pass? Small questions sit beside matters of state.
- How it worked. Hollows were drilled into the back of the bone, heat was applied, and a crack shaped like the character 卜 appeared.
Test yourself
What were oracle bones mostly made from?
Ox bones and turtle shells. Cattle shoulder blades and turtle plastrons were the main materials.
Sources
Swipe more like this
CurioUS is a feed you steer. Pick what you're curious about and every swipe tunes what comes next.
Open this card in the appMore from Lost Knowledge
- The ancient Greeks built a pocket computer for the sky.
- Did ancient people make electricity?
- There's a 600-year-old book no one can read.
- A Greek scholar measured the Earth with a stick and a shadow.
- Medieval swordsmiths made nanotubes without knowing it.
- The Byzantines had a fire that water couldn't put out. Its recipe is lost.