Interesting recent find… The question is “what is it?” Are these oracle bones ( 甲骨 jiǎgǔ) ? And if so, why is  it not cracked? Or was this particular one simply used for practicing carving inscriptions? Or maybe even record keeping? Is this pictographs indeed an example of jiăgŭwén (oracle script) or is it seal script (小篆 Xiaozhuan /大篆Dazhuan)? What about clerical script (Li shu 隸書)?

According to the I-Ching, tortoise divination is one of the best method for making sense of the events. So, the very symbolism of the tortoise shell itself, would lead credence to the idea that this was used for some form of divination. Most popular and known for during the Shang dynasty, documented cases show this practice continued up until the Qing Dynasty though less frequently. Personally I would guess this example is Ming. But as I said, your guess is as good as mine…

If anyone wants to dig-in to what it says, Harmen Mesker’s website has some fascinating Chinese character analysis topics.