ANTOINE RUCHONNET, Addyman Archaeology

Lifting the veil of the future has been a concern for humans from the omens of ancient Mesopotamia to computer-generated horoscopes. As a method, Shang divination of the 13th and 12th century BCE is outstanding in its sophistication, elegance, and organisation. Based on the interpretation of controlled cracks on animal bones and turtle shells, Shang kings made predictions about the outcome of battles, the weather, childbirth, sickness, and more. Once made, the prophecies were carved into the bones for record keeping, providing the earliest testimonies of Chinese writing.

The National Museum of Scotland holds around 1,300 Shang oracle bones, the largest collection in Europe and second largest outside of Asia. In this talk, Antoine presents the results of research on the bones to understand how the divinatory cracks were made, how the diviners achieved such control over them, and what preparation the bones were submitted prior to their use. The research was carried out in collaboration with the Museum and researchers at the University of Edinburgh, who studied the backside of bones in the museum’s collection using non-invasive techniques (such as X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy), and conducted experiments to recreate the Shang divination process.