Archaeological evidence of pre-Anyang pyromancy[edit]

While the use of bones in divination has been practiced almost globally, such divination involving fire or
heat has generally been found in Asia and the Asian-derived North American cultures.[36] The use of
heat to crack scapulae (pyro-scapulimancy) originated in ancient China, the earliest evidence of which
extends back to the 4th millennium BCE, with archaeological finds from Liaoning, but these were not
inscribed.[37] In Neolithic China at a variety of sites, the scapulae of cattle, sheep, pigs and deer used in
pyromancy have been found,[38] and the practice appears to have become quite common by the end of
the third millennium BCE. Scapulae were unearthed along with smaller numbers of pitless plastrons in
the Nngunwi () stage at Zhengzhou, Henan; scapulae as well as smaller numbers of plastrons
with chiseled pits were also discovered in the Lower and Upper Erligang stages.[39]

Significant use of tortoise plastrons does not appear until the Shang culture sites.[40] Ox scapulae and
plastrons, both prepared for divination, were found at the Shang culture sites of Tixcn () in
Hebei and Qiwn () in Jiangsu.[41] One or more pitted scapulae were found at Lscn () in
Henan, while unpitted scapulae have been found at Erlitou in Henan, Cxin () in Hebei, Nngchng (
) in Liaoning, and Qji () in Gansu.[42] Plastrons do not become more numerous than scapulae
until the Rnmn () Park phase.[43]

As for pyromantic shells or bones with inscriptions, the earliest date back to the site of Erligang in
Zhengzhou, Henan, where burned scapulae of oxen, sheep and pigs were found and one bone fragment
from a pre-Shang layer was inscribed with a graph () corresponding to Shang oracle bone script.
Another piece found at the site bears ten or more characters that are similar to the Shang script but
different in their pattern of use, and it is not clear what layer the piece came from.[44]

Post-Shang oracle bones[edit]

After the founding of Zhou, the Shang practices of bronze casting, pyromancy and writing continued.
Oracle bones found in the 1970s have been dated to the Zhou dynasty, with some dating to the Spring
and Autumn period. However, very few of those were inscribed. It is thought that other methods of
divination supplanted pyromancy, such as numerological divination using milfoil (yarrow) in connection
with the hexagrams of the I Ching, leading to the decline in inscribed oracle bones. However, evidence
for the continued use of plastromancy exists for the Eastern Zhou, Han, Tang[45] and Qing[46] dynasty
periods, and Keightley (1978, p. 9) mentions use in Taiwan as late as 1972.[47]