Oracle bone script
summary
Asserts that oracle scripts are symbols carved into ox shoulder or turtle shell and used by Shang priests for divination with cracks made by a hot implement like a bronze rod; notes ox shoulders are more common, many bones were later ground as medicine until rediscovered in the 1900s; distinguishes angular oracle-bone forms from later bronze seal characters, groups glyphs into human, natural and territorial realms, shows compound formation (limbs + person = new meanings) and frames divination as both ritual tool and social control.
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