Writing+System-Huang+He

This artifact is an Oracle Bone that was used to record sayings in ancient China. During the Huang He civilization During the later stages of the Shang Dynasty ( 1500 BCE - 1000 BCE).The Chinese used animal bones or turtle shells like in the artifact above to record their sayings. The Oracle Bone script had many different symbols. The language is logographic which means that the pictures resemble the word that it represents. The artifact was translated by archaeologists to ask the king about any misfortunes about the next 10 days. This shows that the Chinese used their writing systems for predicting the future as implied in the name "Oracle Bone". Oracles are divine communication or revelations. Most of the script on the bones were usually religious questions or questions about what would happen in the future.