In 1899 the scholar Wang Yirong noticed ancient characters carved on 'dragon bones' sold in a Beijing pharmacy as medicine. They were turtle shells and ox shoulder blades used for divination by the kings of the Shang dynasty around 1250 to 1046 BC, and came from near Anyang in Henan. Excavations from 1928 onward, and finds since, have produced more than 150,000 inscribed pieces. They record questions put to the ancestors about weather, harvests, wars and illness, and contain thousands of different characters, the oldest known Chinese writing and the ancestor of the modern script. The bones proved that the Shang, long regarded as legend, were real.
Before and after
- 1899Construction of White Hart Lane
- 1899Founding of AFC Bournemouth
- 1899Founding of Nairobi
- 1899Founding of SV Werder Bremen
- 1899Oracle bones reveal early Chinese writing
- from 4 February 1899 to 2 July 1902Philippine–American War
- 8 March 1899Founding of Eintracht Frankfurt
- 10 April 1899Birth of Vladimir Nabokov
- 29 April 1899Birth of Duke Ellington
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.