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

> 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…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/artifacts/ART0DEDNMQ5N18C/the-british-library-oracle-bones-or-7694-couling-chalfant  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Mysteries](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries)[Unread oracle bone characters](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered)[Artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered#artifacts)The British Library oracle bones (Or. 7694, Couling-Chalfant and Hopkins collections)

**ART** 0DEDNMQ5N18C·Artifact · document

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

DocumentCC0 1.0C. 1250 to 1041 BC

[Cite]

**Not kept here.** This copy isn't ours to show. [See it where it's published](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oracle_bone_from_the_Couling-Chalfant_collection.jpg).

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 scapula** British Library · CC0 1.0Primary source: [Oracle bone from the Couling-Chalfant collection, Or.7694/1595 (Wikimedia Commons file page)](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHQKVS65V/oracle-bone-from-the-couling-chalfant-collection-or-7694)1 step from the original

[Where it's published](Or. 7694/1595 verso)

## Sources 3

- [Oracle bone (Wikipedia article, used as a pointer to collection counts and excavation history)](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHPK7J06Z/oracle-bone-wikipedia-article-used-as-a-pointer-to)_SRC_
- [Oracle bone from the Couling-Chalfant collection, Or.7694/1595 (Wikimedia Commons file page)](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHQKVS65V/oracle-bone-from-the-couling-chalfant-collection-or-7694)_SRC_
- [Oracle bones: a conservation collaboration with the National Library of China](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHMYWT69H/oracle-bones-a-conservation-collaboration-with-the-national)_SRC_

## Cite it

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

Key

**ART** 0DEDNMQ5N18C

Kind

Document

Held by

British Library, London

Dated

c. 1250 to 1041 BC

Licence

CC0 1.0

Part of

[Unread oracle bone characters](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered)

The record

Every record is open data. Take this one as JSON, with its links and its history.

[JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/api/v1/records/ART0DEDNMQ5N18C)