The British Library oracle bones (Or. 7694, Couling-Chalfant and Hopkins collections)

Not kept here. This copy isn't ours to show. See it where it's published.

About 500 inscribed bones and shells bought in China between 1903 and 1908 by the missionaries Samuel Couling and Frank Chalfant and by Lionel Hopkins, digitised in 2015. Or. 7694/1595 carries a ten-day divination whose record of a lunar eclipse is dated to the night of 27 December 1192 BC. The collection is the largest outside East Asia with open images.

British Library, 1250. CC0 1.0

Copies 1

Photograph of the lunar-eclipse scapulaBritish Library · CC0 1.0Primary source: Oracle bone from the Couling-Chalfant collection, Or.7694/1595 (Wikimedia Commons file page)1 step from the original

Where it's published

Sources 3

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). The British Library oracle bones (Or. 7694, Couling-Chalfant and Hopkins collections) [Artifact ART0DEDNMQ5N18C]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDNMQ5N18C

@misc{mysteriesdept_art0dednmq5n18c,
  title     = {The British Library oracle bones (Or. 7694, Couling-Chalfant and Hopkins collections)},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Artifact, catalog key ART0DEDNMQ5N18C},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ART0DEDNMQ5N18C}
}