Technology · c. 1250 BCE
Shang bronzes and oracle bones
Yinxu, Anyang (Henan, China)
At Yin, the last capital of the Shang dynasty near modern Anyang, kings consulted their ancestors by cracking turtle shells and ox shoulder blades with heat and carving the questions and answers onto them. These oracle-bone inscriptions, beginning in the reign of Wu Ding around 1250 BCE, are the earliest substantial body of Chinese writing, with around 5,000 different characters.
The same court cast magnificent bronze ritual vessels, like those in the tomb of Fu Hao, Wu Ding's consort and a war leader.
Why it mattered
The oracle-bone script is the ancestor of the Chinese characters still in use today, making Chinese one of the world's longest continuously used writing systems.
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