Oracle

===China===
{{Main|Oracle bone|I Ching}}
[[File:Shang dynasty inscribed scapula.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Oracle bone]] of the [[Shang dynasty]], ancient China]]
In China, [[oracle bones]] were used for divination in the late [[Shang dynasty]], (c. 1600–1046 BC). Diviners applied heat to these bones, usually ox scapulae or tortoise plastrons, and interpreted the resulting cracks.

A different divining method, using the stalks of the [[Achillea millefolium|yarrow plant]], was practiced in the subsequent [[Zhou dynasty]] (1046–256 BC).  Around the late 9th century BC, the divination system was recorded in the ''[[I Ching]]'', or "Book of Changes", a collection of linear signs used as oracles. In addition to its oracular power, the ''I Ching'' has had a major influence on the philosophy, literature and statecraft of China since the Zhou period.