Development of early Chinese script: oracle bones to bronze inscriptions (c. 1250–1046 BCE)

1. Shang capital established at Yin (Anyang region)

   Jan 1, 1300 BCELabels: Yinxu, Shang capital, Anyang

   • XSZ Project
   • Yinxu

2. Radiocarbon dates anchor Wu Ding inscription horizon

   Jan 1, 1254 BCELabels: Wu Ding, radiocarbon dating

   • Oracle script
   • Wu Ding
   • Oracle bones

3. Earliest securely attested oracle-bone writing begins

   Jan 1, 1250 BCELabels: Wu Ding, oracle bones

   • Oracle bones
   • Oracle script
   • XSZ Project

4. Oracle-bone script used for full divination records

   Jan 1, 1200 BCELabels: oracle-bone corpus, divination records

   • UNESCO MoW
   • Oracle bones

5. Houmuwu (Simuwu) ding cast with brief inscription

   Jan 1, 1200 BCELabels: Houmuwu ding, bronze vessel

   • Houmuwu ding
   • Britannica

6. Bronze vessels increasingly bear short cast inscriptions

   Jan 1, 1150 BCELabels: bronze vessels, dedicatory inscriptions

   • Britannica
   • Bronze insc

7. Late Shang divination sequence formalized at Anyang

   Jan 1, 1101 BCELabels: Anyang, scribal hands

   • Oracle bones
   • Yinxu

8. Zhou conquest ends Shang and reshapes inscription practices

   Jan 1, 1046 BCELabels: Zhou conquest, Shang fall

   • XSZ Project
   • Oracle script

9. Western Zhou bronze inscriptions continue Shang graphic tradition

   Jan 1, 1045 BCELabels: Western Zhou, bronze inscriptions

   • Bronze insc
   • Britannica

10. Oracle-bone writing recognized in 1899 by Wang Yirong

    Jan 1, 1899Labels: Wang Yirong, oracle-bone discovery

    • Wang Yirong
    • Yinxu

11. Official excavations at Yinxu begin under Academia Sinica

    Jan 1, 1928Labels: Yinxu excavations, Academia Sinica

    • Oracle bones
    • IHP Museum

12. Huayuanzhuang East cache discovered near Yinxu

    Jan 1, 1993Labels: Huayuanzhuang cache, oracle-bone find

    • Oracle script
    • Oracle bones