Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I am really looking forward to learning with you today all about the earliest civilizations, the Indus and the Shang.

So shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain why oracle bones are such an important source of evidence for people who study the Shang Dynasty.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The keywords we'll be using today are silk, oracle bones, diviner.

I'm gonna say those again and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

Silk, oracle bones, diviner.

Good job, now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions.

Silk is a fine, soft, shiny fibre produced by silk worms. Oracle bones were pieces of ox bone or turtle shell that were used by the Shang dynasty to try to predict the future.

A diviner is someone who tries to find out things about the future.

Pause a video here to make a note of these keywords, and when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we will be working through together in today's lesson.

Lesson Shang Dynasty writing.

What are Oracle bones? So in the first learning cycle, we'll explore Shang Dynasty writing.

One of the reasons why historians know so much about the Shang Dynasty is because they can understand lots of their written symbols.

Take a look there at that photo of Shang Dynasty writing.

Look at all the different symbols.

Now, their written symbols are the earliest known writing in East Asia.

Lots of Chinese written symbols, which are used today are based on the old symbols from the Shang Dynasty.

Just like the modern Chinese languages, the people of the Shang Dynasty did not use an alphabet to create words.

Instead, every word had its own picture.

Over 5,000 different picture symbols have been found.

The Shang Dynasty symbol for sky looks a bit like a person with a big head, and this could be to represent being up high in the sky like a God.

The modern Chinese symbol for sky also looks quite similar.

What similarities can you see between these two symbols? Have a look, pause the video here.

And when you're ready to restart, press play.

What similarities could you see? The shapes of those two symbols are quite similar, aren't they? They've still got the same top, and then those two at the bottom that branch out a bit like legs, and then a bit in the middle looks a bit like arms, but their directions are a little bit different, aren't they? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding, which modern language uses written symbols which are very similar to those used by the Shang Dynasty, English, Chinese, Spanish.

What do you think? Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

If you said that the language with written symbols is Chinese, you are absolutely right.

Well done.

Writing was very important to the people in the Shang Dynasty.

Historians know this because so many objects with writing on them have been found, as well as lots of objects used for writing like jade ink pots, they wrote on things like silk, bamboo, and even bones.

And they did this by using ink or something sharp to scratch out their written symbols.

So you can see that photo there of Chinese writing on a picture on silk.

Now, historians know that the people of the Shang Dynasty wrote on bamboo because some ancient bamboo with written symbols still exist today.

So you can see what bamboo would normally look like on the left.

That photo of the green bamboo and then the photo of the ancient symbols written on the bamboo, you can see that they've been preserved in a safe space like a museum or an archive, but they've changed their colour, haven't they? They're not quite green anymore.

They also know that people in the Shang Dynasty wrote on silk.

This was a very soft fabric made by weaving together strands taken from the cocoons of silk worms. This method of making silk still exists today.

So take a look at that illustration there.

So those silk threads, they would be taken from the cocoon that had been made by the silkworm, and that still happens today.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Writing was very important during the time of the Shang Dynasty.

Is that true or false? What do you think, if you said that's true you are absolutely right, well done.

Now take a look at these two statements here.

Which of these would help to justify your answer? They wrote on things like paper and clay.

They wrote on things like bamboo, silk and bone.

Pause the video here and have a quick discussion with your partner.

Which of these two statements would help to justify your answer? And press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said they wrote on things like bamboo, silk, and bone, you're absolutely right, well done.

This brings us to our first learning task.

Can you match the ancient Shang dynasty symbol to the modern word in English? So take a look at those images there, those different Shang dynasty symbols.

Then we have elephant, turtle, dog, sky, tiger.

So can you draw a line to match those Shang Dynasty symbols to the modern word in English? Pause the video here and give yourself enough time to do that and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go, shall we take a look at the matches? So the first image shows a turtle.

The second image shows sky.

The third image shows a tiger.

The fourth image shows a dog, and the last image shows an elephant.

So well done if you were able to match all of those Shang Dynasty symbols to the modern word in English.

Well done for completing that learning task.

We're now ready to move on to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to explore what oracle bones are.

Although bamboo and silk last for a long time, the people of the Shang dynasty lived over 3000 years ago.

The bones that they wrote on have lasted much, much longer than any other material.

This is why most of the writing from the Shang Dynasty that still exists today is written on bones.

Have a look there, that photo of the Shang dynasty symbols on an animal bone, quite a lot of symbols, I wonder what it says.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which of the following lasts the longest? Silk, bamboo, or bone? Pause the video here and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

What did you think, if you said that bone lasts the longest you're absolutely right, well done.

There is a special story about how lots of these bones with Shang Dynasty writing were found.

In China, around 3000 years after the Shang dynasty ended, pharmacies sold herbal medicines, which included mythical dragon bones.

The dragon is a mythical creature, which is very important in Chinese culture and history.

In 1899, a Chinese historian bought some dragon bones for an illness that he was suffering with.

When he looked at the bones, he saw lots of ancient Chinese symbols written on them.

He knew that these must have been special, and so he did some investigating to find out where they had originally been found.

He discovered that these bones had been found at Anyang.

This was a very exciting discovery.

In 1928, archaeologists began to dig at Anyang and found the ruins of the ancient Shang Dynasty capital city there.

There were huge pits filled with more of these bones with writing on.

They are called oracle bones.

Look at that photo there, a pit full of oracle bones, all with writing on so they could tell historians about the Shang Dynasty.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Can you sort these events into chronological order? Using number one for the earliest event.

A Chinese historian bought some dragon bones for an illness.

The Shang dynasty ended.

Archaeologists began to dig at the ancient Shang Dynasty capital city.

So pause the video here.

Give yourself some time to sort these events into chronological order using number one for the earliest event and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go, shall we take a look? So number one, the Shang dynasty ended.

Number two, a Chinese historian bought some dragon bones for an illness.

Number three, archaeologists began to dig at the ancient Shang Dynasty capital city.

Well done if you could order those events.

Now, oracle bones were not really dragon bones.

Archaeologists discovered that these bones were mostly the big shoulder bones of oxen or the shells of tortoises.

Oxen are large cows that were used to pull things like carts and were very important in the Shang Dynasty because without these animals, they would not have been able to farm and feed everyone.

Discovering all of these oracle bones and the writing on them gave historians the chance to learn so much more about the people of the Shang Dynasty.

Take a look at that photo of a tortoise shell oracle bone.

How it's different to the other animal bones we've seen.

What do you think was written on the bones? I wonder.

Well, the bones showed what was important to these people as they had lots of questions on them.

For example, will it rain today? Will the harvest be successful? Or will the king win this battle? And the questions also had answers written next to them.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What was written on the oracle bones? Stories of Gods, questions and answers.

A list of rules, what do you think? Pause the video here, and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

If you said that questions and answers were written on the oracle bones, you're absolutely right, well done.

Historians found out that the oracle bones were used to ask questions to the ancestors and gods of the Shang dynasty.

Not everyone could do this, only trusted diviners and the king and other members of the royal family could use them.

After writing questions onto the bones, a diviner would heat the back of the oracle bone with a hot rod until it cracked.

We can still see the burn marks left on the back of the oracle bones from this today.

So you can see here that photo of the back of an oracle bone, can you see the heat marks? So the darker marks where that hot rod would've been placed.

Then the diviner would turn the oracle bone back over and look at the cracks through the questions.

They would decide what the answer from the gods or ancestors was by reading the messages in the cracks.

Interesting.

Do you think the diviners always told the truth? I wonder, having a look there at that photo of a cracked oracle bone, I wonder how they found the answers by reading the cracks.

Interesting.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

Jun is thinking about diviners.

Can you help him finish this sentence? The job of the diviner was to what? Pause the video here.

Give yourself a moment to finish Jun's sentence.

The job of the diviner was to, and press play when you are ready to continue.

Were you able to complete it? Let's have a look.

The job of the diviner was to use oracle bones to get answers from the gods or ancestors.

Well done if you were able to complete that sentence.

This brings us onto our final learning task.

Tell your learning partner what the discovery of oracle bones helped historians to learn about the Shang Dynasty.

Try to think of at least three things.

You could include these words, capital city, diviner, oracle bones, written symbols, important, ancestors.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to tell your learning partner what the discovery of oracle bones helped historians to learn about the Shang Dynasty and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go, were you able to think of at least three things? Could you include those words? Well, let's take a look at an example, shall we? So your answer could have included, the discovery of Oracle Bones helped historians to learn what was important to the people of the Shang Dynasty, like winning battles.

They also learned that the capital city of the Shang Dynasty was at Anyang after finding pits of Oracle bones there.

Another thing they learned is that diviners communicated with the ancestors.

Finally, they also learned that their writing is very similar to the written symbols still used in China today.

Well done for completing that learning task.

Now, before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learnt about Oracle bones and writing.

The Shang Dynasty created the first form of Chinese writing with different pictures to represent words they wrote on silk, bamboo and bones.

Bones have survived the longest.

People sold some of these as dragon bones until pits full of oracle bones were discovered at Anyang, the ancient capital city of the Shang Dynasty.

Ancient diviners wrote questions on them, heated them and then looked at the cracks to decide what the answer from the gods or ancestors was.

Oracle bones have taught historians about the writing and beliefs of the Shang, what was important to them and how they spoke to their gods.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one, see you next time.