RELG 253 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Scapula, Oracle Bone, Yellow Emperor
16 Apr 2016
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Part ii: the archaeological record: oracle bones. Divinaion in shang dynasty using turtle bones (plastromancy) or scapula bone of cows (scapulamancy) Scapula bones: scrape clean and drill holes, write quesion that you want to consult gods on front-side. Roles in divinaion can be illed by one, two, or three people: ruler: commissions the communicaing, shaman: does the communicaing, recorder: divinaion requires someone able to write. Beginning of chinese characters (ideographs, not phonographs) 1766 bce) & zhou (1115 bce) bronzes: early bronze casing technology. Ritual jars (for ritual use), advanced casing techniques. Design moifs: clouds, water, dragons, animals (including elephants: symmetry* (yin & yang) between let and right sides of an image. Center line that divides into let and right. E. g. proile of an animal looking into the center + its mirror image, or two proiles looking into center, then the two proiles create one looking out at the viewer: man in the mouth of a beast:
