SocietyEast Asia

The Shang dynasty

1,601 BCE – 1,047 BCE

China's first dynasty we can read about in its own sources

In depth

The oracle bones were discovered in 1899 because they were being sold as "dragon bones" to apothecaries. They carry over a hundred thousand inscriptions on harvest, war, births and weather, and confirmed a line of kings historians had taken for legend. Shang bronzes are technically superior to anything else of their age — cast in sections by a method no other culture used.

For children

The Shang kings sought their ancestors' counsel by heating turtle shells until they cracked, and reading the cracks. Question and answer were carved into the bone. That is where Chinese writing begins — and it is still in use today.

Connects to

Writing is invented3,201 BCE
Millet on the Yellow River6,501 BCE
Zhou and the Mandate of Heaven1,047 BCE – 257 BCE

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org