00:00 The Shang Dynasty used oracle bones to communicate with ancestral spirits and make important decisions, such as sacrificing captives in exchange for support in their campaigns.

04:50 The oracle bones provide the earliest evidence of written script in China and verify the existence of the Shang Dynasty, marking the transition from prehistory to written history.

09:14 The archaeological data does not necessarily align with the later written sources, and it is important to remember that the Shang Dynasty was just one group of rulers in a larger and more diverse world, with sites like Erlitou and Zhengzhou representing the emergence and development of the Shang Dynasty.

13:42 Zhengzhou is a massive ancient city that was larger and more complex than any other site in Chinese prehistory, but due to its burial under the modern city of Zhengzhou, we know relatively little about it.

18:25 The Oracle Bones are an important historical source that provide insight into the early Chinese script and society, but they have limitations in terms of the information they contain and the time period they cover.

23:26 The oracle bones were prepared by cutting down ox scapulae and turtle plastrons, inscribed with the source of the bone and the status of the piece, and then used for divination by placing a lit wooden rod into one of the bored holes to produce a T-shaped crack, with the inscriptions consisting of four parts: the preface, the charge, the prognostication, and the verification, providing limited information but revealing the worldview and language of the Shang Dynasty.

27:37 The oracle bone inscriptions provide limited information about the pronunciation of the language, making it difficult to track the earliest stage of change and contributing to an incomplete understanding of the Sino-Tibetan language family, but they do offer insight into the worldview and language of the Shang Dynasty.

32:11 The Shang Dynasty operated according to their own logic and ways that made sense to them, and while the Oracle Bone Inscriptions offer some insight into their society, there is still much that is unknown about their institutions and principles of organization.

36:32 Human sacrifice, particularly of outsiders, was central to the production of Shang authority and served to underline the ruler's power, but violence alone did not produce legitimacy, as the Shang viewed the world as a hierarchical authority with the High God at the top, followed by powers of the land and ancestral spirits, and the purpose of oracle bone divinations was to determine which ancestral spirit needed to be appeased through the proper ritual forms.

41:08 The Shang Dynasty operated under a radically hierarchical system where the king, subordinate to ancestral spirits, sought their will through divination and appeased them through sacrifice, with war and sacrifice being the pillars of the Shang economy and the literal foundation of their polity.

45:35 The Shang Dynasty relied on violence, war, and sacrifice to maintain their authority and appease ancestral spirits, as evidenced by the oracle bones and the sacrifices of captives and notable people.