What was Scapulimancy as it was practiced in Shang Dynasty China?
Oracle Bones (also known as Dragon’s Bones) were the shoulder blades of oxen or plastrons of turtles (the flat, underside of the turtle’s shell) which were used in the Shang Dynasty of China (c. 1600-1046 BCE) for divination.
What is Pyro Scapulimancy?
Scapulimancy (also spelled scapulomancy and scapulamancy, also termed omoplatoscopy or speal bone reading) is the practice of divination by use of scapulae or speal bones (shoulder blades). It is most widely practiced in China and the Sinosphere, but has also been independently developed in the West.
What is the purpose of oracle bones?
The Shang people used oracle bones to communicate with ancestors and deities, who were believed to have the power to bestow fortune, disasters and guidance on the living world. At the royal court, the oracle bones divination was carried out by trusted ‘diviners’ or by the king and other members of the royal family.
What is the oracle bone ritual?
The subset of osteomancy called pyro-osteomancy is the practice of exposing animal bone and turtle shell to heat and interpreting the resulting cracks. These modified objects are called oracle bones, and they have been found in many domestic, royal and ritual contexts within Shang Dynasty archeological sites.
What helped end the Shang Dynasty?
Ultimately, the Shang dynasty was overthrown in 1046 BCE by the Zhou, a subject people—a people who lived under imperial rule—living in the western part of the kingdom, but their cultural contributions carried on through future dynasties.
Who found oracle bones?
Official archaeological excavations in 1928–1937 led by Li Ji, the father of Chinese archaeology, discovered 20,000 oracle bone pieces, which now form the bulk of the Academia Sinica’s collection in Taiwan and constitute about 1/5 of the total discovered.
What does Osteomancy mean?
of bones
osteomancy, osteomanty divination by the examination of bones. — osteomantic, adj. See also: Bones. divination by the examination of bones.
What helped end the Shang dynasty?
Who overthrew the Shang dynasty?
state of Zhou
The Shang Dynasty ended in about 1050 BCE, when conquerors from the state of Zhou invaded the capital and successfully toppled the Shang Dynasty. The Zhou conquerors claimed to overthrow the Shang Dynasty for moral reasons. They said that the Shang king was evil and that heaven no longer wanted him to rule.
Who was the Shang dynasty and what did they do?
The Shang ruled the middle and lower basin of the Yellow River from 1766 B.C. to 1047 B.C. They are famous for being a warrior culture, creating beautiful bronzes, and practicing scapulimance and human sacrifices. According to Chinese mythology, the Shang were a warrior clan that ruled over several cities in the Huanghe River Valley.
Where was the last Shang Dynasty capital located?
In 1908, scholar Luo Zhenyu discovered the source of the bones near Anyang and realized that the area was the site of the last Shang dynasty capital. Decades of uncontrolled digs followed to fuel the antiques trade, and many of these pieces eventually entered collections in Europe, the US, Canada and Japan.
Where are the bronzes from the Shang dynasty?
Bronze gu from Anyang, Henan province, China, Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 bce); in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Mo. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Which is the first ruling dynasty in China?
The Shang Dynasty is the earliest ruling dynasty of China to be established in recorded history, though other dynasties predated it. The Shang ruled from 1600 to 1046 B.C. and heralded the Bronze…