Some Chinese oracle bones are thought to be about 4800-years old. Other oracle bones contain script recording events during the Shang dynasty (c. 1300 B.C.). Oracle bones were found in the 19th century and sold as dragon bones for medicine until it was discovered that they were ancient relics.
The diviner (who could be king) wrote the question he was seeking the answer to one the bones themselves. This is referred to as oracle bone script. In order to produce lines or cracks that could be interpreted, a heated rod was inserted into a pit in the bone until the bone cracked. Sometimes the prognostication and the outcome were also recorded. See an oracle bone with translation.
More on Oracle Bones.
Anyang was the site of the oracle bone excavations, as described by Kris Hirst in AnYang: Bronze Age Capital in China.
