THE RECORD
What changed
At late Shang Anyang, the court inscribed divinations about ritual, war, weather and birth on turtle plastrons and cattle scapulae. Chariot and horse burials reveal elite warfare.
EVIDENCE
What remains
Tens of thousands of oracle-bone fragments, bronze inscriptions, chariot pits and royal tombs document the union of writing, ritual and warfare.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
Oracle-bone inscriptions are the earliest substantial corpus ancestral to the Chinese writing tradition. Recording questions and outcomes linked rule to an unseen order.
OPEN QUESTION
Where interpretation begins
Earlier origins of Chinese writing and routes of chariot transmission remain under study. Oracle bones strongly reflect court concerns rather than society as a whole.