A lunar eclipse inscription recorded on a turtle plastron from the reign of King Wu Ting. "On the next yi [wei] (we will) perform the cutting sacrifice and millet-raising ritual to Ancestor Yi. The king read the cracks and said: 'There will be calamities, but it will not rain.' After six days, in the night of [chia] wu, the moon was eclipsed; on yi wei we performed the cutting sacrifice; the Tuo Kung all raised up the offerings (?)." The eclipse has been dated as March 27, 1373 BC. David Keightley discussing the work of Tung, Tso-pin ( 1895-1963), The Calendrical System and Tables of Yin). Sichuan, 1954

Anyang City is one of the key birthplaces of Chinese ancient culture. In the area of this city, located near the Yellow River, evidence has been found of Paleolithic cultures 25,000 years ago. The overlapping stratums of the Yang-shao Culture (5000-2700 BC), Lung-shan Culture (5000-3000 BC) and perhaps the Hsiao-thun, a proto or early Shang site, are all found in this region. The first library of inscriptions on bones of tortoise shells and the Soul Spring Temple, which is known as the "First Ancient Buddhist Temple in Henan" are all located here. Even if the Shang moved their capital city from time to time, Anyang remained the center of their spiritual universe.

Earlier writings have noted that a culture called the Hsiao-thun also used plastrons. (Li Chi, 1957) Li Chi, a world renowned archeologist, is credited with discovering the Shang Dynasty and was an early authority in this field. (The Shang were noted for their bird clan signs and bird mythology.) Lung-shan or Long-shan are thought to have the earliest clan of specialized diviners. The Yang-shao were farmers and lived in earth-tamped round houses.

Li Chi reported that the major totems of the Hsiao-thun culture were aquatic animals: Fish, crabs, mussels, snails, and turtles. Sacred to them also, the pine tree. They were said to prefer living near the water and probably this close relationship to the water is responsible for their religion. Neolithic sites, especially on the Wei and Ching Rivers, (which are nearby tributaries of the Yellow River) show a culture of fishermen using nets, hooks and sinkers. However, we know little of their totems or religious beliefs. I think that it would be too far fetched to say that they probably were connected with the cult of Pao Hsi and each clan may have had individual aquatic clan signs: turtle, fish, crab, snail, etc.

Lung-shan or Long-shan culture, had the earliest group of specialized diviners who utilized sculpimancy and made sacrifices to ancestors. These peoples, like all the Yellow River cultures, were evolving from migratory hunter-gatherers to land-based feudal societies with strong landed nobility with large estates. Fishing and aquatic hunter-gathering activities continued alongside agriculture but would have been largely independent of economies of scale. And a word to scholars, it is very unlikely that independent fishermen became farmers, especially to feudal lords! Aquatic hunting and gathering has the ancient rhythms and the independence of relying on the water for sustenance. Almost all works and commentaries treat the Clan of Pao Hsi and the Clan of Fu Hsi as the same. Pao Hsi, in my view, was the first clan that saw the images of the hexagrams in their natural surroundings. Fu Hsi was the Divine Husbandman or Shenong. This was the clan of land-based activities: Agriculture, commerce, and towns discussed in Hexagram 42.

The term "lung" is said to mean "dragon" or descended from dragons. The dragon in prehistory meant naga, the earliest known deities of the Kulun Shan Mountains who gave the secrets of chi and immortality to the many Fu, the wise women of the ancient diviner clan.

The Shang are said to have had bird totems (and were descended from crows) and nothing much is mentioned about any close ties to the aquatic animals. Yet the Fu Hao Royal Family Diviners of the Shang Dynasty seemed to use aquatic fresh water turtle plastrons almost exclusively. This would point to the origins of the Fu Hao lineage to the aquatic clans. The clans that made up the Shang Dynasty were both aquatic hunter-gathers who had aquatic clan signs and other clans who had bird clan signs. This points to a blending of Lung-shan, Yang-shao, Hsiao-thun, and Pan-po cultures into the Shang Dynasty.

Hsiao-thun, perhaps early Shang culture used plastrons (the under shell of a turtle) in a fire-cracking process known as plastromancy At least one species of turtle they used was testudo anyangenesus which David Keightley ruefully says "has crawled through many monographs." Keightley also says that the turtles the Shang used were aquatic fresh water animals and that some were imported from the far south as far a Burma.

It is now generally believed that the later Shang Royal Family diviners used turtle shell divination almost exclusively. This would point to their clan origins as from the so-called Hsiao-thun culture, at least in part. According to Li Chi's theory, the Hsiao-thun or proto-Shang would eventually conquer the Lung-shan and Yang-shao and found the Shang Dynasty.

Plastromancy which uses the under-shell of a tortoise in fire divination has been linked to the Hsiao-thun Neolithic culture . Sculpimancy, which uses the leg bone in fire divination, has been associated with the Lung-shan who had the first known clans of specialized diviners. In sculpimancy a flat slice was split from the bone, polished, and incised with a number of oval cavities. After recording the question, the official diviner pressed a red-hot bronze point against the edge of one of the cavities, producing two cracks meeting like "T." From the orientation of these cracks, discussed above, the answer was divined Both methods were used by clans living in the Yellow River estuaries. Sculpimancy was more common throughout the ancient world and has been found in such diverse areas as northern Europe, Central America, and Siberia.

The bones were heated to obtain a pair of cracks consisting of a vertical line plus, at about halfwayt, a perpendicular line. These two lines represent the Chinese character meaning 'divination' or 'question to a deity'. If the perpendicular crack was at approximately a right angle to the vertical one - within twenty degrees up or down the 90 degree point, the reply was deemed auspicious. If the angle of the crack did not fall within this 40-degree range (from 70 to 110), the reply was negative."

The writing at the top was done after the divination was made and later checked for accuracy. The accuracy of the divination was very important to the diviner and was a teaching tool for later students. In this way, writing is said to have begun! In earliest times it is said that only favorable divinations were recorded but it is likely that diviner clans kept a record of their divinations for historical and teaching purposes.

In an interesting article, Sarah Allan theorizes that the plastron for the Shang represented the physical shape of the cosmos, the ya is a cruciform shape representing the five directions: NE, NW, SE, and SW and Center. The ya was a cosmic model of the sky and the earth being held up by four pillars. This cross shape is often seen in Shang burial sites and also Shang clan signs. . This cross shape with it alignment of the North Star is found in most graves and houses.

Hunting, fishing and gathering probably remained an independent way of life. These small subsistence groups, such as the net- fishing Pan-po would have fished along the water and jade-green vegetation of the Yellow River estuaries and may have kept a few domesticated animals as well. These groups would have continued their ancient way of life independent of feudal estates and central governments. They would have seen themselves as part of the animal world and would have had both a deep understanding of the water and accurate understanding of the wildlife that lived there. Like fishermen today they would probably avoid the government and keep to themselves. Perhaps somewhere hidden and undiscovered their I Ching, free of the problems of the nobility (war, dynastic struggle, and palace intrigue ) is to be found. They would seek answers to the fisherman's eternal questions: Where have the crabs gone? Who should I fish with this season? Should I buy this boat or net? Which direction should I go to fish? Where can I find bait? I dreamt the fish were so thick that I could walk across the river on their backs. What does this mean? Should I go there? Who sank my traps? How long before it rains? When will the price of crabs go up?

The Clan of Pao Hsi , is closely associated with Fu Hsi, is the oldest known clan of diviners. It sprang from the ancient ways of hunting, fishing, and gathering. It is associated with the knots and the tying of rope and the construction of nets and baskets. It represents the most ancient sages who learned by living intimately with nature. Intuition and clairvoyance were not only natural to them but to all the life around them. Plants, animals and sea life have these abilities, albeit at a more basic level.

Over time this clairvoyant and intuitive relationship the people had with their natural world accumulated into mythical stories and visual forms. It is these people, I think, that began to look at turtle shells in the wild and began to see the patterns of their universe. Indeed they probably had a myth or story associated with most of the flora and fauna of their world, but they saw something in turtles that completely explained their world. They began to read the future from the markings on the turtle shell and form impressions of what was to come. In this way the turtle became part of the mythical landscape. They saw themselves living on a gigantic turtle shell intimately connected with the cosmos. Their totems, rituals, their basic understanding of time and space, and their place in the universal scheme of things was inextricably intertwined with the turtle and its shell.

These people were sensually perceptive and discriminating. This is perhaps why intuition and clairvoyance were natural them: They lived with heightened awareness which we have lost in the sensory overload of civilization. What they have told us is difficult to precisely convey in words. Symbols and imagery help the outsider to share their world without reducing it to meaningless abstraction.

The passages found in Book III, The Commentaries seem to have sprung directly from the intuition of the original diviners and their clans. These ancient passages came out of their relationship with the land and water forged over generations which in turn is responsible for how they saw themselves in the pattern of space and time. It was not a reality they projected on their environment but a reality that came from their environment. Their symbols and images spring from this intimate relationship and tell us what they found significant and meaningful.

We are extremely fortunate that their natural world, their mythical landscape, and their spiritual universe is found as a "layer of meaning," in the I Ching, in especially Book III, of the Commentaries, particularly well-explained in Wilhelm/Baynes .

These symbols and imagery from these people so long ago come at us from a non-rational, intuitive way that we will miss completely if we are not attuned to it. To comprehend them requires that we use the intuitive and sensory areas of the brain and devote ourselves to things that many modern people find incomprehensible.

The Erhlitou culture is thought to be thought to have founded the Hsia or Xia Dynasty and then later formed a large, influential part of the dynasty throughout the entire reign of the Shang kings. There is some evidence of plastromancy found at their sites during their Erhlikang period ("Erhlikang" meaning that later period of time that they coexisted with the Shang.) However, no evidence of writing has been found. Since the Erhlitou blended with the Lung-shan and since plastromancy was common in the Hsia Dynasty, a mystery remains as to the contributions of the Erhlitou to divination. This culture seems urbane and aesthetic with a sophisticated upper class. The Erhlitou culture and its symbols were based on water, the moon, darkness and death. Its mythical animal was the dragon which would indicate ties to the Lung-shan peoples. This culture again achieved prominence after the Shang Dynasty in the Zhou or Chou Dynasty.

The most intriguing bit of historical information is the Lao Tze also known as Lao Erh, also known as Lao Tzu who lived during the collapse of the Zhou or Chou in the warring-states period has the clan name of Erh. He was a was a contemporary of Confucius, c. 500 AD) and the traditional founder of the Taoist religion. Erh, meaning "plum" may be an indirect reference to a female clan since the plum is representative of the female genitalia and he is said to have been descended from the "Fu," an ancient clan of wise women diviners. He is traditionally shown sitting under a tree which is laden with the fruit of his clan. Secrets of immortality are linked to this idea. Perhaps this is just a matter of synchronicity and has no real historical basis, but it seems he could have had ties to the Erhlitou. Like the Lung-shan, the Erhlitou had a strong mythical ties to the dragon or naga.