Cambridge UL Chinese Oracle Bone (CUL.52)

3D Model

Over three thousand years old, the Chinese Inscribed Oracle Bones in the Hopkins Collection are by far the oldest written materials in Cambridge University Library.

The oracle bone texts are the oldest extant documents written in the Chinese language. Inscribed on ox shoulder-blades and the flat under-part of turtle shells, they record questions to which answers were sought by divination at the court of the royal house of Shang 商, which ruled central China between the 16th and 11th centuries B.C.E. For further information follow these links http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-CUL-00001-00155/5 http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/mulu/bones.html This object modelled as part of a collaboration between The Cambridge University Library, Charles Aylmer (Head of Chinese Department), Dr Suzanne Paul (Keeper of Manuscripts and University Archives), Maciej M Pawlikowski (Chief Photographic Technician), Prof. Dominic Powlesland (Affiliated Scholar, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research)