Editing Oracle bone (section)

== Evidence of pre-Anyang pyromancy ==
While the use of bones in divination has been practiced almost globally, divination involving fire or heat has generally been found only in Asia and the Asian-derived North American cultures.{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|pp=3, 4, n. 11 and 12}} 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, though these were not inscribed.{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|p=3}} The scapulae of cattle, sheep, pigs, and deer used in pyromancy have been found at neolithic archeological sites,{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|pp=3, 6, n.16}} and the practice appears to have become quite common by the end of the third millennium&nbsp;BCE. Scapulae were unearthed along with smaller numbers of pitless plastrons in the Nánguānwài ({{zhi|c=南關外}}) stage at Zhengzhou; scapulae as well as smaller numbers of plastrons with chiseled pits were also discovered in the lower and upper Erligang stages.{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|p=8, note 25, citing KKHP 1973.1, pp. 70, 79, 88, 91, plates 3.1, 4.2, 13.8}}

Significant use of tortoise plastrons does not appear until the Shang culture sites.{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|p=8}} Ox scapulae and plastrons, both prepared for divination, were found at the Shang culture sites of Táixīcūn ({{zhi|c=台西村}}) in [[Hebei]] and Qiūwān ({{zhi|c=丘灣}}) in [[Jiangsu]].{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|p=8, note 25 cites KK 1973.2 p.74}} One or more pitted scapulae were found at Lùsìcūn ({{zhi|c=鹿寺村}}) in Henan, while unpitted scapulae have been found at [[Erlitou]] in Henan, Cixian ({{zhi|c=磁縣}}) in Hebei, Níngchéng ({{zhi|c=寧城}}) in Liaoning, and Qijia ({{zhi|c=齊家}}) in [[Gansu]].{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|p=6, n.16}} Plastrons do not become more numerous than scapulae until the Rénmín ({{zhi|c=人民}}) Park phase.{{sfn|Keightley|1978a|p=8, note 25 cites Zhèngzhoū Èrlĭgāng, p.38}}