Oracle Bone Inscriptions mainly refers to Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, which appeared in the late Shang Dynasty in China (14 ~ 1 1 century). It was carved on tortoise shells or animal bones by the royal family for divination. After the demise of Shang Dynasty and the rise of Zhou Dynasty, Oracle Bone Inscriptions continued to use it for a period of time, which is the earliest known systematic writing form in China. It inherited the original carving symbols and opened the bronze inscriptions.

Oracle Bone Inscriptions was first recognized by antique dealers and engravers in 1898. Later, China Oracle Bone Inscriptions's father Wang was excavated on a large scale in Yin Ruins (Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan). A large number of tortoise shells and animal bones have been unearthed, and more than 100,000 pieces have been collected in sporadic collections in other places, of which the longest single piece is more than100 words, which shows the embryonic form of practical writing.

Extended data:

The significance of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's appearance;

The appearance of Oracle Bone Inscriptions pushed the recorded history of China to Shang Dynasty. As Oracle Bone Inscriptions is already a mature script, it can be inferred that there were scripts in China in an earlier period, but the Xia script has not yet been discovered.

Contemporary fonts in Oracle Bone Inscriptions include inscriptions on bronzes, which mainly appear on bells, ding and other ritual vessels. After Oracle Bone Inscriptions, he entered various countries to write seal script, including Da seal script, Xiao seal script, Bird seal script and so on, and then official script appeared as early as the end of the Warring States Period to the early Western Han Dynasty. Most of our current fonts have evolved from official scripts.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Oracle Bone Inscriptions (China Ancient Chinese Characters)