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List of American Revolutionary War battles
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American
Revolutionary War
Campaigns and theaters
Boston
Canada
New York and New Jersey
Saratoga
Philadelphia
Western
Northern
Northern (after Saratoga)
Southern
Yorktown
Naval
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v
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Boston campaign
1774–1776
Powder Alarm
Suffolk Resolves
Lexington and Concord
Boston
Thompson's War
Chelsea Creek
Machias
Bunker Hill
Gloucester
Falmouth
Knox artillery train
Dorchester Heights
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Canadian campaign
Ticonderoga
Fort St. Jean
Longue-Pointe
Arnold's expedition
Quebec
Saint-Pierre
The Cedars
Trois-Rivières
Valcour Bay
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Southern theater
1775–1779
Gunpowder Incident
Kemp's Landing
Snow Campaign
Savage's Old Fields
Great Cane Brake
Great Bridge
Norfolk
Moore's Creek Bridge
Rice Boats
Sullivan's Island
Lindley's Fort
Thomas Creek
Alligator Bridge
1st Savannah
Beaufort
Van Creek
Kettle Creek
Brier Creek
Chesapeake raid
Stono Ferry
Charles Town
2nd Savannah
[show]
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Revolutionary War campaigns in New York and New Jersey
1776–1777
Long Island
The Turtle
Staten Island Peace Conference
Kip's Bay
Harlem Heights
Pell's Point
White Plains
Fort Washington
Fort Lee
Geary Ambush
Iron Works Hill
Delaware crossing
Trenton
Assunpink Creek
Princeton
Forage War
Millstone
[show]
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Saratoga Campaign
1777
Fort Ticonderoga
Hubbardton
Fort Anne
Slaying of Jane McCrea
Fort Stanwix
Oriskany
Bennington
1st Saratoga (Freeman's Farm)
Forts Clinton and Montgomery
2nd Saratoga (Bemis Heights)
Kingston
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Philadelphia campaign
1777–1778
Bound Brook
Short Hills
Staten Island
Cooch's Bridge
Brandywine
Clouds
Paoli
Germantown
Red Bank
Fort Mifflin
Gloucester
White Marsh
Matson's Ford
Valley Forge
Conway Cabal
Quinton's Bridge
Crooked Billet
Barren Hill
Carlisle Peace Commission
Monmouth
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v
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Northern frontier
after 1777
Cobleskill
Wyoming Valley
Big Runaway
German Flatts
Unadilla and Onaquaga
Carleton's Raid
Cherry Valley
Minisink
Sullivan Expedition
Newtown
Boyd and Parker
Royalton Raid
Klock's Field
Johnstown
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New York City area
after 1777
Baylor Massacre
Stony Point
Paulus Hook
Young's House
Connecticut Farms (NJ)
1st Long Island
Springfield
Bull's Ferry
Pine's Bridge
2nd Long Island
Delaware Bay
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Southern theater
1780–83
Charleston
Moncks Corner
Lenud's Ferry
Waxhaws
Mobley's Meeting House
Ramsour's Mill
Huck's Defeat
Colson's Mill
Rocky Mount
Hanging Rock
Camden
Fishing Creek
Musgrove Mill
Wahab's Plantation
Black Mingo
Charlotte
Kings Mountain
Shallow Ford
Fishdam Ford
Blackstock's Farm
Richmond
Cowpens
Cowan's Ford
Torrence's Tavern
Pyle's Massacre
Wetzell's Mill
Guilford Court House
Fort Watson
Hobkirk's Hill
Fort Motte
Augusta
Ninety-Six
House in the Horseshoe
Eutaw Springs
Lindley's Mill
Videau's Bridge
Wambaw
Combahee River
James Island
Chesapeake Bay
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Western theater
1st Fort Henry
Siege of Boonesborough
Illinois
Vincennes
Treaty of Fort Pitt
Fort Laurens
Chillicothe
Bird's expedition
Piqua
La Balme's Defeat
Coshocton
Lochry's Defeat
Long Run
Gnadenhütten
Little Mountain
Crawford expedition
Bryan Station
Blue Licks
2nd Fort Henry
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Atlantic theatre
Nassau
Block Island
Turtle Gut Inlet
Barbados
Frederica
North Channel
Charles Town
1st Long Island
1st Cape Henry
Cape Breton
Capture of USS Trumbull
Cape Ann
1st Chesapeake
Capture of HMS Savage
1st Delaware Bay
Halifax
2nd Cape Henry
Hudson Bay
2nd Long Island
2nd Delaware Bay
3rd Delaware Bay
2nd Chesapeake Bay
This is a list of military actions in the American Revolutionary War. Actions marked with an asterisk involved no casualties.
Major campaigns, theaters, and expeditions of the war
Boston campaign (1774–76)
Invasion of Quebec (1775–76)
New York and New Jersey campaigns (1776–77)
Saratoga campaign (1777)
Philadelphia campaign (1777–78)
Yorktown campaign (1781)
Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War after Saratoga (1778–81)
Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War (1775–83)
Western theater of the American Revolutionary War (1777–82)
Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War
Battles (in chronological order)[edit]
Battle
Date
Colony/State
Outcome
Powder Alarm* 000000001774-09-01-0000September 1, 1774 Massachusetts British soldiers remove military supplies
Storming of Fort William and Mary* 000000001774-12-14-0000December 14, 1774 New Hampshire Patriots seize powder and shot after brief skirmish.
Battles of Lexington and Concord 000000001775-04-19-0000April 19, 1775 Massachusetts Patriot victory: British forces raiding Concord driven back into Boston with heavy losses.
Siege of Boston 000000001775-04-19-0000April 19, 1775 –
March 17, 1776 Massachusetts Patriot victory: British eventually evacuate Boston after Patriots fortify Dorchester heights
Gunpowder Incident* 000000001775-04-20-0000April 20, 1775 Virginia Virginia governor Lord Dunmore removes powder to a Royal Navy ship, standoff is resolved without violence
Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 000000001775-05-10-0000May 10, 1775 New York Patriot victory: Patriots capture British posts at Ticonderoga and Crown point
Battle of Chelsea Creek 000000001775-05-27-0000May 27-28, 1775 Massachusetts Patriots victory: Patriots capture British ship Diana
Battle of Machias 000000001775-06-11-0000June 11-12, 1775 Massachusetts Patriot forces capture the HM schooner Margaretta
Battle of Bunker Hill 000000001775-06-17-0000June 17, 1775 Massachusetts British victory: British drive Patriot army from the Charlestown peninsula near Boston but suffer heavy losses
Battle of Gloucester 000000001775-08-08-0000August 8, 1775 Massachusetts Patriot victory
Siege of Fort St. Jean 000000002018-09-17-0000September 17 –
November 3, 1775 Quebec Patriot victory: Patriots capture British force and subsequently overrun Montreal and much of Quebec
Burning of Falmouth 000000001775-10-18-0000October 18, 1775 Massachusetts British burn Falmouth
Battle of Kemp's Landing 000000001775-11-14-0000November 14, 1775 Virginia British victory
Siege of Savage's Old Fields 000000001775-11-19-0000November 19-21, 1775 South Carolina Patriot victory: Patriots defeat loyalist force
Battle of Great Bridge 000000001775-12-09-0000December 9, 1775 Virginia Patriot victory: Lord Dunmore's loyalist force is defeated
Snow Campaign 000000001775-12-01-0000December 1775 South Carolina Patriot campaign against loyalists in South Carolina
Battle of Quebec 000000001775-12-31-0000December 31, 1775 Quebec British victory: British repulse Patriot assault on Quebec city
Burning of Norfolk 000000001776-01-01-0000January 1, 1776 Virginia British bombard Norfolk and Patriots destroy what they see as a loyalist stronghold
Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge 000000001776-02-27-0000February 27, 1776 North Carolina Patriot victory: loyalist force of Regulators and Highlanders defeated
Battle of the Rice Boats 000000001776-03-02-0000March 2-3, 1776 Georgia British victory
Battle of Nassau 000000001776-03-03-0000March 3-4, 1776 Bahamas Patriots raid against the Bahamas to obtain supplies
Battle of Saint-Pierre 000000001776-03-25-0000March 25, 1776 Quebec Patriot victory
Battle of Block Island 000000001776-04-06-0000April 6, 1776 Rhode Island British victory
Battle of The Cedars 000000001776-05-18-0000May 18-27, 1776 Quebec British victory
Battle of Trois-Rivières 000000001776-06-08-0000June 8, 1776 Quebec British victory: Patriots forced to evacuate Quebec
Battle of Sullivan's Island 000000001776-06-28-0000June 28, 1776 South Carolina Patriot victory: British attack on Charleston is repulsed
Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet 000000001776-06-29-0000June 29, 1776 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of Lindley's Fort 000000001776-07-15-0000July 15, 1776 South Carolina Patriot victory: Native Americans attack repulsed
Battle of Long Island 000000001776-08-27-0000August 27, 1776 New York British victory: in the largest battle of the war the Patriot army is outflanked and routed on Long Island but later manages to evacuate to Manhattan
Landing at Kip's Bay 000000001776-09-15-0000September 15, 1776 New York British victory: British capture New York City
Battle of Harlem Heights 000000001776-09-16-0000September 16, 1776 New York Patriot victory: Patriots repulse British attack on Manhattan
Battle of Valcour Island 000000001776-10-11-0000October 11, 1776 New York British victory: British defeat Patriot naval force on Lake Champlain, but victory comes too late to press the offensive against the Hudson valley
Battle of White Plains 000000001776-10-28-0000October 28, 1776 New York British victory
Battle of Fort Cumberland 000000001776-11-10-0000November 10-29, 1776 Nova Scotia British victory
Battle of Fort Washington 000000001776-11-16-0000November 16, 1776 New York British victory: British capture 3,000 Patriots on Manhattan in one of the most devastating Patriot defeats of the war
Battle of Fort Lee 000000001776-11-20-0000November 20, 1776 New Jersey British victory: Patriots begin general retreat
Ambush of Geary 000000001776-12-14-0000December 14, 1776 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of Iron Works Hill 000000001776-12-22-0000December 22-23, 1776 New Jersey British victory
Battle of Trenton 000000001776-12-26-0000December 26, 1776 New Jersey Patriot victory: Patriots capture Hessian detachment at Trenton
Second Battle of Trenton 000000001777-01-02-0000January 2, 1777 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of Princeton 000000001777-01-03-0000January 3, 1777 New Jersey Patriot victory: Patriots defeat a small British force, the British decide to evacuate New Jersey
Battle of Millstone 000000001777-01-20-0000January 20, 1777 New Jersey Patriot victory
Forage War January-March 1777 New Jersey Patriots harass remaining British forces in New Jersey
Battle of Punk Hill 000000001777-03-08-0000March 8, 1777 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of Bound Brook 000000001777-04-13-0000April 13, 1777 New Jersey British victory
Battle of Ridgefield 000000001777-04-27-0000April 27, 1777 Connecticut British victory
Battle of Thomas Creek 000000001777-05-17-0000May 17, 1777 East Florida British victory
Meigs Raid 000000001777-05-24-0000May 24, 1777 New York Patriot victory
Battle of Short Hills 000000001777-06-26-0000June 26, 1777 New Jersey British victory
Siege of Fort Ticonderoga 000000001777-07-05-0000July 5-6, 1777 New York British victory
Battle of Hubbardton 000000001777-07-07-0000July 7, 1777 Vermont British victory
Battle of Fort Ann 000000001777-07-08-0000July 8, 1777 New York British victory
Siege of Fort Stanwix 000000001777-08-02-0000August 2-23, 1777 New York Patriot victory: British fail to take Fort Stanwix
Battle of Oriskany 000000001777-08-06-0000August 6, 1777 New York British victory
Second Battle of Machias 000000001777-08-13-0000August 13-14, 1777 Massachusetts British victory
Battle of Bennington 000000001777-08-16-0000August 16, 1777 New York Patriot victory
Battle of Staten Island 000000001777-08-22-0000August 22, 1777 New York British victory
Battle of Setauket 000000001777-08-22-0000August 22, 1777 New York British victory
First Siege of Fort Henry September 1 or 21, 1777 Virginia Patriot victory
Battle of Cooch's Bridge 000000001777-09-03-0000September 3, 1777 Delaware British victory
Battle of Brandywine 000000001777-09-11-0000September 11, 1777 Pennsylvania British victory
Battle of the Clouds 000000001777-09-16-0000September 16, 1777 Pennsylvania Battle called off due to rain
Battle of Freeman's Farm 000000001777-09-19-0000September 19, 1777 New York British tactical victory: First of the two Battles of Saratoga
Battle of Paoli 000000001777-09-21-0000September 21, 1777 Pennsylvania British victory
Siege of Fort Mifflin 000000002018-09-26-0000September 26 –
November 15, 1777 Pennsylvania British victory
Battle of Germantown 000000001777-10-04-0000October 4, 1777 Pennsylvania British victory
Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery 000000001777-10-06-0000October 6, 1777 New York British victory
Battle of Bemis Heights 000000001777-10-07-0000October 7, 1777 New York Patriot victory: Second of the two Battles of Saratoga, British under Burgoyne driven back and forced to surrender 10 days later
Battle of Red Bank 000000001777-10-22-0000October 22, 1777 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of Gloucester 000000001777-11-25-0000November 25, 1777 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of White Marsh 000000001777-12-05-0000December 5-8, 1777 Pennsylvania Patriot victory
Battle of Matson's Ford 000000001777-12-11-0000December 11, 1777 Pennsylvania British victory
Battle of Barbados 000000001778-03-07-0000March 7, 1778 Barbados British victory
Battle of Quinton's Bridge 000000001778-03-18-0000March 18, 1778 New Jersey British victory
North Channel Naval Duel 000000001778-04-24-0000April 24, 1778 Great Britain Patriot victory
Battle of Crooked Billet 000000001778-05-01-0000May 1, 1778 Pennsylvania British victory
Battle of Barren Hill 000000001778-05-20-0000May 20, 1778 Pennsylvania Indecisive
Mount Hope Bay raids 000000001778-05-25-0000May 25-30, 1778 Rhode Island British victory
Battle of Cobleskill 000000001778-05-30-0000May 30, 1778 New York British-Iroquois victory
Battle of Monmouth 000000001778-06-28-0000June 28, 1778 New Jersey Draw: British break off engagement and continue retreat to New York
Battle of Alligator Bridge 000000001778-06-30-0000June 30, 1778 East Florida British victory
Wyoming Massacre 000000001778-07-03-0000July 3, 1778 Pennsylvania British-Iroquois victory
First Battle of Ushant 000000001778-07-27-0000July 27, 1778 Bay of Biscay British victory
Siege of Pondicherry August 21–October 19 1778 India British victory
Battle of Newport 000000001778-08-29-0000August 29, 1778 Rhode Island British victory
Grey's raid 000000001778-09-05-0000September 5-17, 1778 Massachusetts British victory
Invasion of Dominica 000000001778-09-07-0000September 7, 1778 Dominica French victory
Siege of Boonesborough 000000001778-09-07-0000September 7, 1778 Virginia Patriot victory
Attack on German Flatts 000000001778-09-17-0000September 17, 1778 New York British-Iroquois victory
Baylor Massacre 000000001778-09-27-0000September 27, 1778 New Jersey British victory
Raid on Unadilla and Onaquaga 000000001778-10-02-0000October 2-16, 1778 Indian Reserve Patriot victory
Battle of Chestnut Neck 000000001778-10-06-0000October 6, 1778 New Jersey British victory
Little Egg Harbor massacre 000000001778-10-16-0000October 16, 1778 New Jersey British victory
Carleton's Raid October 24-November 14 1778 Vermont British victory
Cherry Valley Massacre 000000001778-11-11-0000November 11, 1778 New York British-Iroquois victory
Battle of St. Lucia 000000001778-12-15-0000December 15, 1778 St. Lucia British victory
Capture of St. Lucia 000000001778-12-18-0000December 18-28, 1778 St. Lucia British victory
Capture of Savannah 000000001778-12-29-0000December 29, 1778 Georgia British victory
Battle of Beaufort 000000001779-02-03-0000February 3, 1779 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Kettle Creek 000000001779-02-14-0000February 14, 1779 Georgia Patriot victory
Siege of Fort Vincennes 000000001779-02-23-0000February 23-25, 1779 Quebec Patriot victory
Battle of Brier Creek 000000001779-03-03-0000March 3, 1779 Georgia British victory
Battle of Chillicothe May 1779 Quebec Patriot victory
Chesapeake raid 000000001779-05-10-0000May 10-24, 1779 Virginia British victory
Capture of Saint Vincent 000000001779-06-16-0000June 16-18, 1779 St. Vincent French victory
Battle of Stono Ferry 000000001779-06-20-0000June 20, 1779 South Carolina British victory
Great Siege of Gibraltar June 24, 1779-February 7, 1783 Gibraltar British victory
Capture of Grenada 000000001779-07-02-0000July 2, 1779 Grenada French victory
Tryon's raid 000000001779-07-05-0000July 5-14, 1779 Connecticut British victory
Battle of Grenada 000000001779-07-06-0000July 6, 1779 Grenada French victory
Battle of Stony Point 000000001779-07-16-0000July 16, 1779 New York Patriot victory
Battle of Minisink 000000001779-07-22-0000July 22, 1779 New York British-Iroquois victory
Penobscot Expedition July 24-August 29, 1779 Massachusetts British victory
Battle of Paulus Hook 000000001779-08-19-0000August 19, 1779 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of Newtown 000000001779-08-29-0000August 29, 1779 Indian Reserve Patriot victory
Capture of Fort Bute 000000001779-09-07-0000September 7, 1779 West Florida Patriot-Spanish victory
Battle of Lake Pontchartrain 000000001779-09-10-0000September 10, 1779 West Florida Patriot victory
Boyd and Parker ambush 000000001779-09-13-0000September 13, 1779 Indian Reserve British-Iroquois victory
Action of 14 September 1779 000000001779-09-14-0000September 14, 1779 Azores British victory
Siege of Savannah September 16-October 18, 1779 Georgia British victory
Battle of Baton Rouge 000000001779-09-20-0000September 20-21, 1779 West Florida Patriot-Spanish victory
Battle of Flamborough Head 000000001779-09-23-0000September 23, 1779 Great Britain Patriot victory
Battle of San Fernando de Omoa October 16-November 29, 1779 Guatemala British victory
Action of 11 November 1779 000000001779-11-11-0000November 11, 1779 Portugal British victory
First Battle of Martinique 000000001779-12-18-0000December 18, 1779 Martinique British victory
Action of 8 January 1780 000000001780-01-08-0000January 8, 1780 Spain British victory
Battle of Cape St. Vincent 000000001780-01-16-0000January 16, 1780 Portugal British victory
Battle of Young's House 000000001780-02-03-0000February 3, 1780 New York British victory
San Juan Expedition March-November, 1780 Guatemala Patriot-Spanish victory
Battle of Fort Charlotte 000000001780-03-02-0000March 2-14, 1780 West Florida Patriot-Spanish victory
Siege of Charleston March 29-May 12, 1780 South Carolina British victory: British recapture South Carolina following the battle
Battle of Monck's Corner 000000001780-04-14-0000April 14, 1780 South Carolina British victory
Second Battle of Martinique 000000001780-04-17-0000April 17, 1780 Martinique Patriot victory
Battle of Lenud's Ferry 000000001780-05-06-0000May 6, 1780 South Carolina British victory
Bird's invasion of Kentucky May 25-August 4, 1780 Virginia British victory
Battle of St. Louis 000000001780-05-25-0000May 25, 1780 Louisiana Patriot-Spanish victory
Battle of Waxhaws 000000001780-05-29-0000May 29, 1780 South Carolina British victory
Battle of Connecticut Farms 000000001780-06-07-0000June 7, 1780 New Jersey British victory
Battle of Mobley's Meeting House 000000001780-06-10-0000June 10-12, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Ramsour's Mill 000000001780-06-20-0000June 20, 1780 North Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Springfield 000000001780-06-23-0000June 23, 1780 New Jersey Patriot victory
Huck's Defeat 000000001780-07-12-0000July 12, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Bull's Ferry 000000001780-07-20-0000July 20-21, 1780 New Jersey Loyalist victory
Battle of Colson's Mill 000000001780-07-21-0000July 21, 1780 North Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Rocky Mount 000000001780-08-01-0000August 1, 1780 South Carolina Loyalist victory
Battle of Hanging Rock 000000001780-08-06-0000August 6, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Pekowee 000000001780-08-08-0000August 8, 1780 Quebec Patriot victory
Action of 9 August 1780 000000001780-08-09-0000August 9, 1780 Atlantic Spanish victory
Battle of Camden 000000001780-08-16-0000August 16, 1780 South Carolina British victory
Battle of Fishing Creek 000000001780-08-18-0000August 18, 1780 South Carolina British victory
Battle of Musgrove Mill 000000001780-08-18-0000August 18, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Black Mingo 000000001780-08-28-0000August 28, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Wahab's Plantation 000000001780-09-20-0000September 20, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Charlotte 000000001780-09-26-0000September 26, 1780 North Carolina British victory
Battle of Kings Mountain 000000001780-10-07-0000October 7, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory: halts first British invasion of North Carolina
Royalton Raid 000000001780-10-16-0000October 16, 1780 Vermont British victory
Battle of Klock's Field 000000001780-10-19-0000October 19, 1780 New York Patriot victory
La Balme's Defeat 000000001780-11-05-0000November 5, 1780 Quebec British-Iroquois victory
Battle of Fishdam Ford 000000001780-11-09-0000November 9, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Blackstock's Farm 000000001780-11-20-0000November 20, 1780 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Fort St. George 000000001780-11-23-0000November 23, 1780 New York Patriot victory
Battle of Jersey 000000001781-01-06-0000January 6, 1781 Jersey British victory
Battle of Mobile 000000001781-01-07-0000January 7, 1781 West Florida Patriot-Spanish victory
Battle of Cowpens 000000001781-01-17-0000January 17, 1781 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Cowan's Ford 000000001781-02-01-0000February 1, 1781 North Carolina British victory
Capture of Sint Eustatius 000000001781-02-03-0000February 3, 1781 Sint Eustatius British victory
Battle of Haw River 000000001781-02-25-0000February 25, 1781 North Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Wetzell's Mill 000000001781-03-06-0000March 6, 1781 North Carolina British victory
Siege of Pensacola March 9-May 8, 1781 West Florida Patriot-Spanish victory
Battle of Guilford Court House 000000001781-03-15-0000March 15, 1781 North Carolina British victory
Battle of Cape Henry 000000001781-03-16-0000March 16, 1781 Virginia British victory
Siege of Fort Watson 000000001781-04-15-0000April 15-23, 1781 South Carolina Patriot victory
Battle of Porto Praya 000000001781-04-15-0000April 15, 1781 Cape Verde Draw
Battle of Blandford 000000001781-04-25-0000April 25, 1781 Virginia British victory
Battle of Hobkirk's Hill 000000001781-04-25-0000April 25, 1781 South Carolina British victory
Battle of Fort Royal 000000001781-04-29-0000April 29, 1781 Martinique French victory
Action of 1 May 1781 000000001781-05-01-0000May 1, 1781 France British victory
Battle of Fort Motte 000000001781-05-08-0000May 8-12, 1781 South Carolina Patriot victory
Siege of Augusta May 22-June 6, 1781 Georgia Patriot victory
Siege of Ninety-Six May 22-June 6, 1781 South Carolina British victory
Invasion of Tobago May 24-June 2, 1781 Tobago French victory
Action of 30 May 1781 000000001781-05-30-0000May 30, 1781 Barbary Coast British victory
Battle of Spencer's Ordinary 000000001781-06-26-0000June 26, 1781 Virginia British victory
Francisco's Fight July 1781 Virginia Patriot victory
Battle of Green Spring 000000001781-07-06-0000July 6, 1781 Virginia British victory
Naval battle of Louisbourg 000000001781-07-21-0000July 21, 1781 Nova Scotia Franco-Patriot victory
Battle of Dogger Bank 000000001781-08-05-0000August 5, 1781 North Sea British victory
Invasion of Minorca August 19, 1781-February 5, 1782 Minorca Franco-Spanish victory
Lochry's Defeat 000000001781-08-24-0000August 24, 1781 Quebec British-Iroquois victory
Battle of the Chesapeake 000000001781-09-05-0000September 5, 1781 Virginia French victory
Battle of Groton Heights 000000001781-09-06-0000September 6, 1781 Connecticut British victory
Battle of Eutaw Springs 000000001781-09-08-0000September 8, 1781 South Carolina British victory
Battle of Lindley's Mill 000000001781-09-13-0000September 13, 1781 North Carolina Patriot victory
Long Run Massacre 000000001781-09-13-0000September 13, 1781 Virginia British-Iroquois victory
Siege of Yorktown September 28-October 19, 1781 Virginia Franco-Patriot victory: Cornwallis surrenders his force of over 7,000
Battle of Fort Slongo 000000001781-10-03-0000October 3, 1781 New York Patriot victory
Siege of Negapatam October 21-November 11, 1781 India British victory
Battle of Johnstown 000000001781-10-25-0000October 25, 1781 New York Patriot victory
Second Battle of Ushant 000000001781-12-12-0000December 12, 1781 Bay of Biscay British victory
Battle of Videau's Bridge 000000001782-01-02-0000January 2, 1782 South Carolina British victory
Siege of Brimstone Hill January 11-February 13, 1782 St. Christopher Franco-Patriot victory
Capture of Trincomalee 000000001782-01-11-0000January 11, 1782 Ceylon British victory
Capture of Demerara and Essequibo January 22-February 5, 1782 Demerara and Essequibo Franco-Patriot victory
Battle of Saint Kitts 000000001782-01-25-0000January 25-26, 1782 St. Christopher British victory
Battle of Sadras 000000001782-02-17-0000February 17, 1782 India French victory
Capture of Montserrat 000000001782-02-22-0000February 22, 1782 Montserrat French victory
Battle of Wambaw 000000001782-02-24-0000February 24, 1782 South Carolina British victory
Gnadenhütten massacre 000000001782-03-08-0000March 8, 1782 Ohio
Battle of Roatán 000000001782-03-16-0000March 16, 1782 Guatemala Patriot-Spanish victory
Action of 16 March 1782 000000001782-03-16-0000March 16, 1782 Strait of Gibraltar British victory
Battle of Little Mountain 000000001782-03-22-0000March 22, 1782 Virginia British-Iroquois victory
Battle of Delaware Bay 000000001782-04-08-0000April 8, 1782 New Jersey Patriot victory
Battle of the Saintes 000000001782-04-09-0000April 9-12, 1782 Dominica British victory
Battle of Providien 000000001782-04-12-0000April 12, 1782 Ceylon French victory
Battle of the Black River April-August, 1782 Guatemala British victory
Battle of the Mona Passage 000000001782-04-19-0000April 19, 1782 Mona passage British victory
Action of 20–21 April 1782 000000001782-04-20-0000April 20-21, 1782 Bay of Biscay British victory
Capture of the Bahamas 000000001782-05-06-0000May 6, 1782 Bahamas Patriot-Spanish victory
Crawford expedition May 25-June 12, 1782 Quebec British-Iroquois victory
Naval battle off Halifax 000000001782-05-28-0000May 28-29, 1782 Nova Scotia British victory
Raid on Lunenburg 000000001782-07-01-0000July 1, 1782 Nova Scotia Patriot victory
Battle of Negapatam 000000001782-07-06-0000July 6, 1782 Ceylon British victory
Hudson Bay Expedition 000000001782-08-08-0000August 8, 1782 Rupert's Land Franco-Patriot victory
Siege of Bryan Station 000000001782-08-15-0000August 15-17, 1782 Virginia Patriot victory
Battle of Blue Licks 000000001782-08-19-0000August 19, 1782 Virginia British-Iroquois victory
Battle of the Combahee River 000000001782-08-26-0000August 26, 1782 South Carolina British victory
Battle of Trincomalee August 25-September 3, 1782 Ceylon French victory
Siege of Fort Henry 000000001782-09-11-0000September 11-13, 1782 Virginia Patriot victory
Grand Assault on Gibraltar 000000001782-09-13-0000September 13, 1782 Gibraltar British victory
Action of 18 October 1782 000000001782-10-18-0000October 18, 1782 Hispaniola British victory
Action of 6 December 1782 000000001782-12-06-0000December 6, 1782 Martinique British victory
Action of 22 January 1783 000000001783-01-22-0000January 22, 1783 Virginia British victory
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American Revolutionary War portal
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Oracle bone
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Oracle bone
A Shang dynasty oracle bone from the Shanghai Museum
Chinese
甲骨
Literal meaning
Shells and bones
[show]Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Jiǎgǔ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh
Jeaguu
Wade–Giles
Chia3-ku3
IPA
[tɕjà.kù]
Wu
Romanization
Chiaʔ-kueʔ
Hakka
Romanization
Gap5-gut5
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanization
Gaap-gwāt
Jyutping
Gaap3-gwat1
Southern Min
Tâi-lô
Kah-kut (col.)
Kap-kut (lit.)
Oracle bones (Chinese: 甲骨; pinyin: jiǎgǔ) are pieces of ox scapula or turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. Scapulimancy is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for the divination; plastromancy if turtle plastrons were used.
Diviners would submit questions to deities regarding future weather, crop planting, the fortunes of members of the royal family, military endeavors, and other similar topics.[1] These questions were carved onto the bone or shell in oracle bone script using a sharp tool. Intense heat was then applied with a metal rod until the bone or shell cracked due to thermal expansion. The diviner would then interpret the pattern of cracks and write the prognostication upon the piece as well.[2] By the Zhou dynasty, cinnabar ink and brush had become the preferred writing method, resulting in fewer carved inscriptions and often blank oracle bones being unearthed.
The oracle bones bear the earliest known significant corpus of ancient Chinese writing[a] and contain important historical information such as the complete royal genealogy of the Shang dynasty.[b] When they were discovered and deciphered in the early twentieth century, these records confirmed the existence of the Shang, which some scholars had until then doubted.
Contents
[hide]
1 Discovery
2 Official excavations
3 Dating
4 Shang divination
4.1 Materials
4.2 Preparation
4.3 Cracking and interpretation
5 Archaeological evidence of pre-Anyang pyromancy
6 Oracle bones at other sites
7 Post-Shang oracle bones
8 Notes
9 References
9.1 Works cited
10 External links
Discovery[edit]
Wang Yirong, Chinese politician and scholar, was the first to recognize the oracle bones as ancient writing.
The Shang-dynasty oracle bones are thought to have been unearthed periodically by local farmers[9] since as early as the Sui and Tang dynasties and perhaps starting as early as the Han dynasty,[10] but local inhabitants did not realize what the bones were and generally reburied them.[11] During the 19th century, villagers in the area digging in the fields discovered a number of bones and used them as "dragon bones" (Chinese: 龍骨; pinyin: lóng gǔ), a reference to the traditional Chinese medicine practice of grinding up Pleistocene fossils into tonics or poultices.[11][12] The turtle shell fragments were prescribed for malaria,[c] while the other animal bones were used in powdered form to treat knife wounds.[13]
In 1899, an antiques dealer from Shandong Province searching for Chinese bronzes in the area acquired a number of oracle bones from locals, several of which he sold to Wang Yirong, the chancellor of the Imperial Academy in Beijing.[14] Wang was a knowledgeable collector of Chinese bronzes and is believed to be the first person in modern times to recognize the oracle bones' markings as ancient Chinese writing similar to that on Zhou dynasty bronzes.[14] A legendary tale relates that Wang was sick with malaria, and his scholar friend Liu E was visiting him and helped examine his medicine. They discovered, before it was ground into powder, that it bore strange glyphs, which they, having studied the ancient bronze inscriptions, recognized as ancient writing.[13] As Xǔ Yǎhuì states:
"No one can know how many oracle bones, prior to 1899, were ground up by traditional Chinese pharmacies and disappeared into peoples' stomachs."[13]
It is not known how Wang and Liu actually came across these "dragon bones", but Wang is credited with being the first to recognize their significance.[13] Wang committed suicide in 1900 in connection with his involvement in the Boxer Rebellion, and his son later sold the bones to friend Liu E, who published the first book of rubbings of the oracle bone inscriptions in 1903.[14][15] News of the discovery of the oracle bones spread quickly throughout China and among foreign collectors and scholars, and the market for oracle bones exploded, though many collectors sought to keep the location of the bones' source a secret.[14] Although scholars tried to find their source, antique dealers falsely claimed that the bones came from Tangyin in Henan.[13] In 1908, scholar Luo Zhenyu discovered the source of the bones near Anyang and realized that the area was the site of the last Shang dynasty capital.[14]
Decades of uncontrolled digs followed to fuel the antiques trade,[d] and many of these pieces eventually entered collections in Europe, the US, Canada and Japan.[16] The first Western collector was the American missionary Frank H. Chalfant (1862–1914).[e] Chalfant also first coined the term "oracle bone" in his 1906 book Early Chinese Writing, which was then borrowed into Chinese as "jiǎgǔ 甲骨" in the 1930s.[18] The Canadian Presbyterian minister James Mellon Menzies (1885–1957) bought the largest amount.[19] The Chinese still acknowledge the pioneering contribution of Menzies as "the foremost western scholar of Yin-Shang culture and oracle bone inscriptions." His former residence in Anyang was declared a "Protected Treasure" in 2004, and the James Mellon Menzies Memorial Museum for Oracle Bone Studies was established.[20][21][22]
Official excavations[edit]
Oracle bone pit at Yinxu, Anyang
By the time of the establishment of the Institute of History and Philology headed by Fu Sinian at the Academia Sinica in 1928, the source of the oracle bones had been traced back to modern Xiǎotún (小屯) village at Anyang in Henan Province. Official archaeological excavations in 1928–1937 led by Li Ji, the father of Chinese archaeology,[23] discovered 20,000 oracle bone pieces, which now form the bulk of the Academia Sinica's collection in Taiwan and constitute about 1/5 of the total discovered.[f] When deciphered, the inscriptions on the oracle bones turned out to be the records of the divinations performed for or by the royal household. These, together with royal-sized tombs,[g] proved beyond a doubt for the first time the existence of the Shang dynasty, which had recently been doubted, and the location of its last capital, Yin. Today, Xiǎotún at Anyang is thus also known as the Ruins of Yin, or Yinxu.
The Jiǎgǔwén héjí (甲骨文合集) edited by Hu Houxuan, with its supplement edited by Peng Bangjiong, is the most comprehensive catalogue of oracle bone fragments. The 20 volumes contain reproductions of over 55,000 fragments. A separate work contains transcriptions of the inscriptions into standard characters.[25]
Dating[edit]
Ox scapula recording divinations by Zhēng 爭 in the reign of King Wu Ding
The vast majority of the inscribed oracle bones were found at the Yinxu site in modern Anyang, and date to the reigns of the last nine kings of the Shang dynasty.[26] The diviners named on the bones have been assigned to five periods by Dong Zuobin:[27]
Period
Kings
Common diviners
I Wu Ding[h] Què 㱿, Bīn 賓, Zhēng 爭, Xuān 宣
II Zu Geng, Zu Jia Dà 大, Lǚ 旅, Xíng 行, Jí 即, Yǐn 尹, Chū 出
III Lin Xin, Kang Ding Hé 何
IV Wu Yi, Wen Wu Ding
V Di Yi, Di Xin
The kings were involved in divination in all periods, but in later periods most divinations were done personally by the king.[29] The extant inscriptions are not evenly distributed across these periods, with 55% coming from period I and 31% from periods III and IV.[30] A few oracle bones date to the beginning of the subsequent Zhou dynasty.
The earliest oracle bones (corresponding to the reigns of Wu Ding and Zu Geng) record dates using only the 60-day cycle of stems and branches, though sometimes the month was also given.[31] Attempts to determine an absolute chronology focus on a number of lunar eclipses recorded in inscriptions by the Bīn group, who worked during the reign of Wu Ding, possibly extending into the reign of Zu Geng. Assuming that the 60-day cycle continued uninterrupted into the securely dated period, scholars have sought to match the recorded dates with calculated dates of eclipses.[32] There is general agreement on four of these, spanning dates from 1198 to 1180 BCE.[32] A fifth is assigned by some scholars to 1201 BCE.[33] From these data, the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project, relying on the statement in the "Against Luxurious Ease" chapter of the Book of Documents that the reign of Wu Ding lasted 59 years, dated it from 1250 to 1192 BCE.[34][35] David Keightley argued that the "Against Luxurious Ease" chapter should not be treated as a historical text, because was composed much later, presents reign lengths as moral judgements, and gives other reign lengths that are contradicted by oracle bone evidence.[36] He dated the reign of Wu Ding as approximately from 1200 to 1181 BCE.[37] Ken-ichi Takashima dates the earliest oracle bone inscriptions to 1230 BCE.[38]
Period V inscriptions often identify numbered ritual cycles, making it easier to estimate the reign lengths of the last two kings.[39] The start of this period is dated 1100–1090 BCE by Keightley and 1101 BCE by the XSZ project.[37][35] Most scholars now agree that the Zhou conquest of the Shang took place close to 1046 or 1045 BCE, over a century later than the traditional date.[40][41][42]
Shang divination[edit]
Since divination (-mancy) was by heat or fire (pyro-) and most often on plastrons or scapulae, the terms pyromancy, plastromancy[i] and scapulimancy are often used for this process.
Materials[edit]
Tortoise plastron with divination inscription
The oracle bones are mostly tortoise plastrons (ventral or belly shells, probably female[j]) and ox scapulae (shoulder blades), although some are the carapace (dorsal or back shells) of tortoises, and a few are ox rib bones,[k] scapulae of sheep, boars, horses and deer, and some other animal bones.[l] The skulls of deer, oxen and humans have also been found with inscriptions on them,[m] although these are very rare and appear to have been inscribed for record keeping or practice rather than for actual divination;[43][n] in one case, inscribed deer antlers were reported, but Keightley (1978) reports that they are fake.[44][o] Neolithic diviners in China had long been heating the bones of deer, sheep, pigs and cattle for similar purposes; evidence for this in Liaoning has been found dating to the late fourth millennium BCE.[45] However, over time, the use of ox bones increased, and use of tortoise shells does not appear until early Shang culture. The earliest tortoise shells found that had been prepared for divinatory use (i.e., with chiseled pits) date to the earliest Shang stratum at Erligang (Zhengzhou, Henan).[46] By the end of the Erligang, the plastrons were numerous,[46] and at Anyang, scapulae and plastrons were used in roughly equal numbers.[47] Due to the use of these shells in addition to bones, early references to the oracle bone script often used the term "shell and bone script", but since tortoise shells are actually a bony material, the more concise term "oracle bones" is applied to them as well.
The bones or shells were first sourced and then prepared for use. Their sourcing is significant because some of them (especially many of the shells) are believed to have been presented as tribute to the Shang, which is valuable information about diplomatic relations of the time. We know this because notations were often made on them recording their provenance (e.g., tribute of how many shells from where and on what date). For example, one notation records that "Què (雀) sent 250 (tortoise shells)", identifying this as, perhaps, a statelet within the Shang sphere of influence.[48][49][p] These notations were generally made on the back of the shell's bridge (called bridge notations), the lower carapace, or the xiphiplastron (tail edge). Some shells may have been from locally raised tortoises, however.[q] Scapula notations were near the socket or a lower edge. Some of these notations were not carved after being written with a brush, proving (along with other evidence) the use of the writing brush in Shang times. Scapulae are assumed to have generally come from the Shang's own livestock, perhaps those used in ritual sacrifice, although there are records of cattle sent as tribute as well, including some recorded via marginal notations.[51]
Preparation[edit]
Holes drilled into an oracle bone
The bones or shells were cleaned of meat and then prepared by sawing, scraping, smoothing and even polishing to create convenient, flat surfaces.[50][52][r] The predominance of scapulae and later of plastrons is also thought to be related to their convenience as large, flat surfaces needing minimal preparation. There is also speculation that only female tortoise shells were used, as these are significantly less concave.[48] Pits or hollows were then drilled or chiseled partway through the bone or shell in orderly series. At least one such drill has been unearthed at Erligang, exactly matching the pits in size and shape.[53] The shape of these pits evolved over time and is an important indicator for dating the oracle bones within various sub-periods in the Shang dynasty. The shape and depth also helped determine the nature of the crack that would appear. The number of pits per bone or shell varied widely.
Cracking and interpretation[edit]
In this Shang dynasty oracle bone (which is incomplete), a diviner asks the Shang king if there would be misfortune over the next ten days; the king replied that he had consulted the ancestor Xiaojia in a worship ceremony.
Divinations were typically carried out for the Shang kings in the presence of a diviner. A very few oracle bones were used in divination by other members of the royal family or nobles close to the king. By the latest periods, the Shang kings took over the role of diviner personally.[3]
During a divination session, the shell or bone was anointed with blood,[54] and in an inscription section called the "preface", the date was recorded using the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and the diviner name was noted. Next, the topic of divination (called the "charge") was posed,[s] such as whether a particular ancestor was causing a king's toothache. The divination charges were often directed at ancestors, whom the ancient Chinese revered and worshiped, as well as natural powers and Dì (帝), the highest god in the Shang society. A wide variety of topics were asked, essentially anything of concern to the royal house of Shang, from illness, birth and death, to weather, warfare, agriculture, tribute and so on.[1] One of the most common topics was whether performing rituals in a certain manner would be satisfactory.[t]
An intense heat source[u] was then inserted in a pit until it cracked. Due to the shape of the pit, the front side of the bone cracked in a rough 卜 shape. The character 卜 (pinyin: bǔ or pǔ; Old Chinese: *puk; "to divine") may be a pictogram of such a crack; the reading of the character may also be an onomatopoeia for the cracking. A number of cracks were typically made in one session, sometimes on more than one bone, and these were typically numbered. The diviner in charge of the ceremony read the cracks to learn the answer to the divination. How exactly the cracks were interpreted is not known. The topic of divination was raised multiple times, and often in different ways, such as in the negative, or by changing the date being divined about. One oracle bone might be used for one session or for many,[v] and one session could be recorded on a number of bones. The divined answer was sometimes then marked either "auspicious" or "inauspicious", and the king occasionally added a "prognostication", his reading on the nature of the omen.[56] On very rare occasions, the actual outcome was later added to the bone in what is known as a "verification".[56] A complete record of all the above elements is rare; most bones contain just the date, diviner and topic of divination,[56] and many remained uninscribed after the divination.[55]
The uninscribed divination is thought to have been brush-written with ink or cinnabar on the oracle bones or accompanying documents, as a few of the oracle bones found still bear their brush-written divinations without carving,[w] while some have been found partially carved. After use, shells and bones used ritually were buried in separate pits (some for shells only; others for scapulae only),[x] in groups of up to hundreds or even thousands (one pit unearthed in 1936 contained over 17,000 pieces along with a human skeleton).[57]
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.[58] 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.[45] In Neolithic China at a variety of sites, the scapulae of cattle, sheep, pigs and deer used in pyromancy have been found,[59] 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 Nánguānwài (南關外) 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.[60]
Significant use of tortoise plastrons does not appear until the Shang culture sites.[46] Ox scapulae and plastrons, both prepared for divination, were found at the Shang culture sites of Táixīcūn (台西村) in Hebei and Qiūwān (丘灣) in Jiangsu.[61] One or more pitted scapulae were found at Lùsìcūn (鹿寺村) in Henan, while unpitted scapulae have been found at Erlitou in Henan, Cíxiàn (磁縣) in Hebei, Níngchéng (寧城) in Liaoning, and Qíjiā (齊家) in Gansu.[62] Plastrons do not become more numerous than scapulae until the Rénmín (人民) Park phase.[63]
Oracle bones at other sites[edit]
Four inscribed bones have been found at Zhengzhou in Henan: three with numbers 310, 311 and 312 in the Hebu corpus, and one containing a single character (ㄓ) which also appears in late Shang inscriptions. HB 310, which contained two brief divinations, has been lost, but is recorded in a rubbing and two photographs. HB 311 and 312 each contain a short sentence similar to the late Shang script. HB 312 was found in an upper layer of the Erligang culture. The others were found accidentally in river management earthworks, and so lack archaeological context. Pei Mingxiang argued that they predated the Anyang site. Takashima, referring to character forms and syntax, argues that they were contemporaneous with the reign of Wu Ding.[64][65]
A few inscribed oracle bones have also been unearthed in the Zhōuyuán, the original political center of the Zhou in Shaanxi and in Daxinzhuang, Jinan, Shandong. Some bones from the Zhouyuan are believed to be contemporaneous with the reign of Di Xin, the last Shang king.[66]
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[67] and Qing[68] dynasty periods, and Keightley mentions use in Taiwan as late as 1972.[69]
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ A tiny number of isolated mid to late Shang pottery, bone and bronze inscriptions may predate the oracle bones. However, the oracle bones are considered the earliest significant body of writing, due to the length of the inscriptions, the vast amount of vocabulary (very roughly 4000 graphs), and the sheer quantity of pieces found – at least 100,000 pieces[3][4] bearing millions of characters,[5] and around 5,000 different characters,[5] forming a full working vocabulary (Qiu 2000, p. 50 cites various statistical studies before concluding that "the number of Chinese characters in general use is around five to six thousand"). It should be noted that there are also inscribed or brush-written Neolithic signs in China, but they do not generally occur in strings of signs resembling writing; rather, they generally occur singly and whether or not these constitute writing or are ancestral to the Shang writing system is currently a matter of great academic controversy. They are also insignificant in number compared to the massive amounts of oracle bones found so far.[6][7][8]
Jump up ^ Chou 1976, p. 12 cites two such scapulae, citing his own "商殷帝王本紀" Shāng–Yīn dìwáng bĕnjì, pp. 18–21.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, pp. 4–5 cites The Compendium of Materia Medica and includes a photo of the relevant page and entry.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 6 cites eight waves of illegal digs over three decades, with tens of thousands of pieces taken.
Jump up ^ Rev. Chalfant acquired 803 oracle bone pieces between 1903 and 1908, and hand-traced over 2500 pieces including these.[17]
Jump up ^ over 100,000 pieces have been found in all.[3][4]
Jump up ^ Eleven royal-sized tombs were found.[24] This exactly matches the number of kings who should have been buried at Yin (the 12th king died in the Zhou conquest and would not have received a royal burial).
Jump up ^ Dong also included kings Pan Geng, Xiao Xin and Xiao Yi. However, few or perhaps no inscriptions can be reliably assigned to pre-Wu Ding reigns. Many scholars assume that earlier oracle bones from Anyang exist but have not yet been found.[28]
Jump up ^ According to Keightley 1978a, p. 5, citing Yang Junshi 1963, the term plastromancy (from plastron + Greek μαντεία, "divination") was coined by Li Ji.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 9 – the female shells are smoother, flatter and of more uniform thickness, facilitating pyromantic use.
Jump up ^ According to Chou 1976, p. 7, only four rib bones have been found.
Jump up ^ such as ox humerus or astragalus (ankle bone).[16]
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 34 shows a large, clear photograph of a piece of inscribed human skull in the collection of the Institute of History and Philology at the Academia Sinica, Taiwan, presumably belonging to an enemy of the Shang.
Jump up ^ There appears to be some confusion in published reports between inscribed bones in general, and bones that have actually been heated and cracked for use in divination.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 35 does show an inscribed deer skull, thought to have been killed by a Shang king during a hunt.
Jump up ^ Some cattle scapulae were also tribute.[50]
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 12 mentions reports of Xiǎotún villagers finding hundreds of shells of all sizes, implying live tending or breeding of the turtles onsite.
Jump up ^ Chou 1976, p. 12 notes that evidence of sawing is present on some oracle bones, and that the saws were likely of bronze, although none have ever been found.
Jump up ^ There is scholarly debate about whether the topic was posed as a question or not; Keightley prefers the term "charge", since grammatical questions were often not involved.
Jump up ^ For a fuller overview of the topics of divination and what can be gleaned from them about the Shang and their environment, see Keightley 2000.
Jump up ^ The nature of this heat source is still a matter of debate.
Jump up ^ Most full (non-fragmentary) oracle bones bear multiple inscriptions, the longest of which are around 90 characters long.[55]
Jump up ^ Qiu 2000, p. 60 mentions that some were written with a brush and either ink or cinnabar, but not carved.
Jump up ^ Those that were for practice or records, where buried in common rubbish pits.[57]
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Keightley 1978a, pp. 33–35.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 40–42.
^ Jump up to: a b c Qiu 2000, p. 61.
^ Jump up to: a b Keightley 1978a, p. xiii.
^ Jump up to: a b Qiu 2000, p. 49.
Jump up ^ Qiu 2000.
Jump up ^ Boltz 2003.
Jump up ^ Woon 1987.
Jump up ^ Qiu 2000, p. 60.
Jump up ^ Chou 1976, p. 1, citing Wei Juxian 1939, "Qín-Hàn shi fāxiàn jiǎgǔwén shuō", in Shuōwén Yuè Kān, vol. 1, no.4; and He Tianxing 1940, "Jiǎgǔwén yi xianyu gǔdài shuō", in Xueshu (Shànghǎi), no. 1
^ Jump up to: a b Wilkinson 2000, p. 390.
Jump up ^ Fairbank & Goldman 2006, p. 33.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Xu 2002, p. 4.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Wilkinson (2000), p. 391.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 16.
^ Jump up to: a b Chou 1976, p. 1.
Jump up ^ Chou 1976, pp. 1–2.
Jump up ^ Wilkinson (2015), p. 681.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 6.
Jump up ^ Wang Haiping (2006). "Menzies and Yin-Shang Culture Scholarship – An Unbreakable Bond." Anyang Ribao (Anyang Daily), August 12, 2006, p.1
Jump up ^ See Linfu Dong (2005). Cross Culture and Faith: the Life and Work of James Mellon Menzies. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0-8020-3869-2.
Jump up ^ Geoff York (2008). "The unsung Canadian some knew as 'Old Bones' James Mellon Menzies, a man of God whose faith inspired him to unearth clues about the Middle Kingdom." Globe and Mail, January 18, 2008, p. F4–5
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 9.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 10.
Jump up ^ Wilkinson 2000, pp. 400–401.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. xiii, 139.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 31, 92–93, 203.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 97–98, 139–140, 203.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 31.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 139–140.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 113–116.
^ Jump up to: a b Keightley 1978a, p. 174.
Jump up ^ Zhang 2002, p. 353.
Jump up ^ Zhang 2002, pp. 352–354.
^ Jump up to: a b Li 2002, p. 331.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978b, pp. 428–429.
^ Jump up to: a b Keightley 1978a, p. 228.
Jump up ^ Takashima 2012, p. 142.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 116, 174–175.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 226–228.
Jump up ^ Li 2002, pp. 328–330.
Jump up ^ Takashima 2012, pp. 142–143.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 7.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 7, note 21.
^ Jump up to: a b Keightley 1978a, p. 3.
^ Jump up to: a b c Keightley 1978a, p. 8.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 10.
^ Jump up to: a b Keightley 1978a, p. 9.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 22.
^ Jump up to: a b Xu 2002, p. 24.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 11.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 13–14.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 18.
Jump up ^ Xu 2002, p. 28, citing the Rites of Zhou.
^ Jump up to: a b Qiu 2000, p. 62.
^ Jump up to: a b c Xu 2002, p. 30.
^ Jump up to: a b Xu 2002, p. 32.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 3, 4, n. 11 and 12.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, pp. 3, 6, n.16.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 8, note 25, citing KKHP 1973.1, pp. 70, 79, 88, 91, plates 3.1, 4.2, 13.8.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 8, note 25 cites KK 1973.2 p.74.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 6, n.16.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 8, note 25 cites Zhèngzhoū Èrlĭgāng, p.38.
Jump up ^ Takashima 2012, pp. 143–160.
Jump up ^ Qiu 2000, pp. 41–42.
Jump up ^ Takashima 2012, p. 141.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 4 n.4.
Jump up ^ Keightley 1978a, p. 9, n.30, citing Hu Xu 1782–1787, ch. 4, p.3b on use in Jiangsu
Jump up ^ cites Zhāng Guangyuan 1972
Works cited[edit]
Boltz, William G. (2003). The origin and early development of the Chinese writing system. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society. ISBN 0-940490-18-8. Pbk. ed. with minor corr. and a new preface.
Chou, Hung-hsiang 周鴻翔 (1976). Oracle Bone Collections in the United States. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09534-0.
Fairbank, John King; Goldman, Merle (2006). China : a new history (2nd enl. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01828-1.
Keightley, David N. (1978a). Sources of Shang history : the oracle-bone inscriptions of Bronze Age China. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02969-0. Paperback 2nd edition (1985) ISBN 0-520-05455-5.
——— (1978b). "The Bamboo Annals and Shang-Chou Chronology". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 38 (2): 423–438. JSTOR 2718906.
——— (2000). The ancestral landscape: time, space, and community in late Shang China, ca. 1200–1045 B.C. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley. ISBN 1-55729-070-9.
Li, Xueqin (2002). "The Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project: Methodology and Results". Journal of East Asian Archaeology. 4: 321–333. doi:10.1163/156852302322454585.
Qiu, Xigui (2000). Chinese writing (Wenzixue gaiyao). Transl. by Gilbert L. Mattos and Jerry Norman. Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China. ISBN 1-55729-071-7.
Takashima, Ken-ichi (2012). "Literacy to the South and the East of Anyang in Shang China: Zhengzhou and Daxinzhuang". In Li, Feng; Branner, David Prager. Writing and Literacy in Early China: Studies from the Columbia Early China Seminar. University of Washington Press. pp. 141–172. ISBN 978-0-295-80450-7.
Wilkinson, Endymion (2000). Chinese History: A Manual (2nd ed.). Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0-674-00249-4.
——— (2015). Chinese History: A New Manual (4th ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 978-0-674-08846-7.
Woon, Wee Lee 雲惟利 (1987). Chinese Writing: Its Origin and Evolution. Macau: University of East Asia. Now issued by Joint Publishing, Hong Kong.
Xu, Yahui (許雅惠 Hsu Ya-huei) (2002). Ancient Chinese Writing, Oracle Bone Inscriptions from the Ruins of Yin. English translation by Mark Caltonhill and Jeff Moser. Taibei: National Palace Museum. ISBN 978-957-562-420-0. Illustrated guide to the Special Exhibition of Oracle Bone Inscriptions from the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. Govt. Publ. No. 1009100250.
Zhang, Peiyu (2002). "Determining Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology through Astronomical Records in Historical Texts". Journal of East Asian Archaeology. 4: 335–357. doi:10.1163/156852302322454602.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oracle bones.
Oracle bones, United College Library, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Includes 45 inscribed fragments.
Oracle Bone Collection, Institute of History and Philology, Taipei City.
High-resolution digital images of oracle bones, Cambridge Digital Library.
四方风 or Winds of the Four Directions World Digital Library. National Library of China.
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