Question: From the images given, such as the ritual vessels and the inscribed ox scapula, we know that there is an existanc of priests.Conduct a research to learn more about the religion that the people of the Shang Civlisation practiced. Blog your answers supported by pictorial or written sources as your evidence.


The spirit of the ancestors (shi 示, a graph showing the spiritual power descending from above) was inquired and venerated in an ancestor temple (zong 宗). With specially defined types of ritual bronze vessels like jue 爵, ding 鼎, and jia 斝 the souls of the ancestors were offered millet ale and foods. There were five different types of rituals for ancestor hosting: yi 翌, ji 祭, zai {(才/隹)*丸}, xie {劦/口} and yong 肜. Towards the end of the Yin period the belief in the highest deity Shangdi and the natural powers became more indifferent and was overshadowed by the growing importance of the ancestral spirits. At the same time, the king took over the position of the divining shaman himself, a task that was hitherto filled by a group or staff of specialized shamans. Shang thinking can not be divided from divination. The use of divination by pyromancy, exposing bones or turtle plastrons to the fire and divining by the resulting cracks in the bone's surface, was not only limited to the Shang period - as often is read, but was still in use during the early Zhou Dynasty. To divine, a hole was drilled in the scapula of an ox or in the plastron (breast shield) of a turtle. Exposing the bone to fire, it obtained cracks out of which the professional diviner or the king as a divining shaman read what to do in the next future. The divination's course and the result was written down on the bones before storing and burying them in big jars.

Mohenjo-Daro(Mound of the dead)

Mohenjo Daro, or "Mound of the Dead" is an ancient Indus Valley Civilization city that flourished between 2600 and 1900 BCE. It was one of the first world and ancient Indian cities. The site was discovered in the 1920s and lies in Pakistan's Sindh province. Only a handful of archaeologists have excavated here, described in the introduction and illustrated essay Mohenjodaro: An Ancient Indus Valley Metropolis.

The Great Bath

The "great bath" is without doubt the earliest public water tank in the ancient world. The tank itself measures approximately 12 meters north-south and 7 meters wide, with a maximum depth of 2.4 meters. Two wide staircases lead down into the tank from the north and south and small sockets at the edges of the stairs are thought to have held wooden planks or treads. At the foot of the stairs is a small ledge with a brick edging that extends the entire width of the pool. People coming down the stairs could move along this ledge without actually stepping into the pool itself.

The Granary of Mohenjo-Daro
Built on top of a tapered brick platform, this building had a solid brick foundation that extended for 50 meters east west and 27 meters north south. The foundation was divided into 27 square and rectangular blocks by narrow passageways, two running east west and eight running north south. A section of the northern foundation had hollow sockets for wooden beams used to support a stairway or wooden structure. Later wells and walls are seen in the foreground.

1.What are primary and secondary sources?

Ans:Primary sources are information provided by people who were involved in historical events or who witnessed the events.

Secondary sources are the records of people who did not directly participate in or witness the events they describe.

2.How do historians make sure that their sources are reliable?

Ans:They test their evidence using the 3 C's--credibility,consitency,corroboration--test

3.Why and when is it neccesary for historians to revise their interpretations of past events?

1. What do we learn when we study history?

Ans: We learn about people and events that happened in the past that made the world that we are living in today.

2. Name four good reasons for studying history?

Ans: To learn about the successes and failures of different people.To understand how our society came about,for knowledge

this my blog for history class

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