The oracle bone inscriptions were unearthed around Xiaotun Village, Yindu District, Anyang City, Henan Province.
Oracle bone inscriptions:
Oracle bone inscriptions are an ancient Chinese writing. They mainly refer to the writings engraved on tortoise shells or animal bones used by the Chinese royal family in the late Shang Dynasty for divination and recording events. It is our The earliest mature Chinese characters that can be seen, it is also the earliest known carrier of the Shang Dynasty writing system in China and East Asia. It was first discovered by Wang Yirong.
Oracle bone inscriptions date back more than 3,000 years. It is not only the earliest and systematic data for studying the origin of Chinese characters, but also an important asset for studying oracle bone calligraphy. From the perspective of calligraphy, oracle bone inscriptions already have the three basic elements of calligraphy: pen use, word knotting, and composition. That is to say, using pen, knotting and composition, it was successfully selected into the "Memory of the World Register" on November 24, 2017.
On November 10, 2022, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage held a working meeting on the important progress of the "Archaeological China" major project in Beijing to report on the important results and new progress in the archeology and oracle bone inscriptions of the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan.
The content recorded in Oracle Bone Inscriptions:
There are four main items:
(1) The processed and scraped tortoise shells and animal bones were used by the divination officials who were responsible for them. custody. The oracle bones were engraved on their edges with narrative text describing the origin and storage conditions of these oracle bones, which are called "chronic inscriptions".
(2) When fortune-telling, the diviner uses a burning redbud wood pillar to burn and drill the nest groove, causing cracks in the shape of "divination" to appear on the front of the bone. This kind of crack is called "divination". "Omen" is the basis for inferring good or bad things in divination. Under the earlier oracle bone divination signs, the numbers in the order of divination are engraved. These numbers are also called "Omen Sequence".
(3) The main part of the oracle bone inscriptions is the inscriptions, that is, the inscriptions that record the progress and results of the divination activities after the divination activities. Most of the inscriptions are on the front of the oracle bones, and some are on the back.
(4) Based on the heavenly stems (A, B, B, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui) and the earthly branches (Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, The stem and branch table composed of sixty stems and branches with matching names (Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai) can be said to be the earliest calendar in our country.