jiaguwen

jiaguwen, pictographic script found on oracle bones, it was widely used in divination in the Shang dynasty (c. 18th–12th century bc).

Turtle carapaces and ox scapulae with inscriptions scratched into them were discovered about 1900 in the area of Xiaotun, a village in Henan province. In subsequent excavations, scholars uncovered extensive remains and conclusive evidence of the existence of the Shang dynasty. Apparently, characters were first brushed on the bone in red or black ink and then incised with a sharp instrument. Heat was then applied to the bone or shell, which caused it to crack, and omens were divined from the resulting patterns. The script’s characters are not consistent in either size or structure, and, while generally written from top to bottom, the configuration of the bone or shell determined a free and sometimes arbitrary arrangement. Over three thousand characters have been identified, about half of which have been deciphered.