What is the earliest writing in archaeology? What are the characteristics?

Oracle Bone Inscriptions is the earliest and most complete ancient script discovered by China. Oracle Bone Inscriptions mainly refers to the Oracle Bone Inscriptions of Yin Ruins, also known as "Yin Ruins Characters" and "Yin Qi", written on the bones of tortoise shells and beasts in Shang Dynasty. 1899, discovered by Wang, a famous epigrapher in Qing Dynasty, at his home in Beijing. Due to the intentional concealment of antique dealers, it has long been unknown to academic circles. Until 1908 was discovered by Luo Zhenyu, its real source was Yin Ruins in Anyang (now Xiaotun in Anyang, Henan). Oracle Bone Inscriptions inherited Wen Tao's word-making method, which was carved (or written) on tortoise shells and animal bones by the royal family in the late Shang Dynasty of China (14 ~1century) for divination. After the demise of Shang Dynasty and the rise of Zhou Dynasty, Oracle Bone Inscriptions continued to be used for some time. Oracle Bone Inscriptions's discovery promoted the study of China's ancient history and ancient philology by scholars all over the world, and created a brand-new discipline-Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions characteristics

Judging from the number and structure of fonts, Oracle Bone Inscriptions has developed into a more rigorous and systematic writing. The "six-character" principle of Chinese characters is reflected in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. But the traces of the original picture and the original words are still obvious. Its main features are:

(1) As far as the structure of characters is concerned, some hieroglyphs only emphasize the characteristics of physical objects, and the number of strokes and the front and back are not uniform.

(2) Some Oracle Bone Inscriptions's cognitive characters only require the radical to conform to a clear meaning, but not to be fixed. Therefore, there are many variants in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and some words can be written in dozens or even dozens.

(3) The size of Oracle Bone Inscriptions graphics is often determined by the complexity of physical objects, and some words can occupy the position of several words, either long or short.

(4) Because the characters are carved on hard animal bones with knives, the strokes are thin, mostly in Fang Bi.

Because Oracle Bone Inscriptions was carved with a knife, and the knife was sharp and blunt, and the bones were thin and thick, hard and soft, the strokes carved out were different in thickness, even as thin as hair, and the joints of the strokes were peeling off, thick and heavy. Structurally, the length and size are not necessarily the same, or the dispersion is uneven; Or the dense layers are stacked, which is very neat and solemn, so it can show the infinite interest of simplicity and variety.

Although the structure of Oracle Bone Inscriptions is complex and varied, it has a symmetrical and stable pattern. Therefore, some people think that China's calligraphy, strictly speaking, began in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, because Oracle Bone Inscriptions has prepared three elements of calligraphy, namely, using a pen, binding words and composing a composition.