This is a piece of tortoise shell (the tortoise's belly armor) engraved with oracle bones. Oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest ancient characters with a relatively complete system that have been discovered in China. They mainly refer to characters engraved on tortoise shells or animal bones. They prevailed in the late Shang Dynasty (about 14th century BC to 11th century BC). In ancient times, the royal family and nobles of the Shang Dynasty used tortoise shells and ox shoulder blades to make divination, predict good or bad luck or inquire about important matters (such as weather, war, harvest, sacrifice, etc.). During divination, the sorcerer would drill holes in the back of the tortoise's shell, then burn it with fire, judge the good or bad according to the cracks (called "omens") generated on the front, and engrave the divination content or result on the oracle bone.

This turtle shell with inscriptions was found to be two separate pieces and was reconstructed. The content of the inscription records the divination on the day of Xinyou, asking if they could defeat their opponents.