Oracle bone script is associated with which dynasty?

Oracle bone script is associated with which dynasty?

• A. Shang Dynasty
• B. Zhou Dynasty
• C. Qin Dynasty
• D. Han Dynasty

Answer: (A)

Oracle bone script is the earliest form of Chinese writing, created for divination by rulers of the late Shang dynasty. It was carved on bones and turtle shells—oracle bones—and used at the Shang capital of Anyang to interpret questions about crops, weather, and war. This practice and the characters it produced date to roughly the 1200s–1050 BCE, before the Zhou Dynasty, which brought different inscription traditions. Later dynasties developed other scripts (for example, Qin’s standardized small seal and Han’s clerical script), but they are not tied to oracle bone inscriptions. So, the dynasty most closely linked to oracle bone script is the Shang Dynasty.

Oracle bone script is the earliest form of Chinese writing, created for divination by rulers of the late Shang dynasty. It was carved on bones and turtle shells—oracle bones—and used at the Shang capital of Anyang to interpret questions about crops, weather, and war. This practice and the characters it produced date to roughly the 1200s–1050 BCE, before the Zhou Dynasty, which brought different inscription traditions. Later dynasties developed other scripts (for example, Qin’s standardized small seal and Han’s clerical script), but they are not tied to oracle bone inscriptions. So, the dynasty most closely linked to oracle bone script is the Shang Dynasty.