Oracle bones like this one are about 3500 years old. They proved the existence of the Shang dynasty. Most of the bones were discovered in the Shang city of Yinxu, near modern-day Anyang.

BC, 1 bone, 4+2 lines in Chinese script, prepared and cracked with burned marks on reverse. Context: Around 100,000 oracle bones are known, widely scattered in museums and collections around the world ...

They date from the late Shang Dynasty, (circa 1250 B.C. to circa ... Many of the roughly 5,000 characters in the "oracle bone script" are still used in modern Chinese (some versions of Chinese ...

The earliest writings in China were found on ox scapulae, tortoiseshells, and bronzes during the Shang dynasty. Dated from around 1400-1200 B.C.E, the inscriptions on bones and shells-called "oracle ...