Why did the ancients think that divination with turtles was the most effective?

As for why the ancients used turtles for divination, it is difficult for us to clearly understand why the ancients used turtles for divination because there were no written records at that time and no corresponding records have been circulated so far. There are roughly three kinds of guesses about this problem.

First, the tortoise has a long life.

Generally speaking, the life span of turtles is quite long. Generally speaking, the life span of water turtles can reach 30 to 40 years, while the life span of some large turtles can exceed 100 years, which is longer than that of human beings. The average life expectancy of ancient people was only 50 to 60 years old, and most people died when they were young. At that time, the medical conditions were very poor, and it was a natural death to live to 50 or 60 years old. Therefore, the tortoise is such an animal.

Second, the tortoise itself can predict the weather changes.

The ancients in China often used the state of animals and plants to judge the weather changes. In ancient times, people would judge whether it would rain by whether the turtle shell was wet. The ancients thought that the wetter the turtle's back, the less obvious the lines on the turtle's shell, so it would rain before long. If the water vapor has condensed into water droplets and emerged from the turtle's back, it may rain heavily, but if the turtle shell is dry and hard to the touch, it won't rain for a while.

Third, the ancients believed that turtles had divine power.

In ancient times, the tortoise belonged to one of the five great beasts, and it was said to have powerful magic. In addition, the ancients also thought that the turtle shell was like a belly falling from the sky, just like the tortoise's limbs, symbolizing the changes of the four seasons. The lines on the turtle's back are consistent with the gossip used by the ancients for divination. All these signs made the ancients think that the tortoise had divine power, was an angel sent by heaven, and could know everything that happened in the universe and the direction of things, so the ancients used tortoise shells when divining.

What do you think of this topic?