In 1899, Wang Yirong, who was then the Guozi's priest of wine, came to the Chinese medicine shop and waited until the pharmacy master handed him the medicine.
Wang Yirong suddenly sensed something.
There are some strange depictions on these herbs.
These medicinal materials are the oracle bones that have been buried underground for more than 3,000 years and are regarded as treasures by future generations.
Wang Yirong found these carvings to be very similar to the Jin script, and he decided to conduct an in-depth study of the oracle bones. After repeated scrutiny and stitching, Wang Yirong confirmed that the symbols on these oracle bones were an early script.
This is what we came to call Oracle.
Oracle bones were used by the Shang Dynasty to predict life and death.
The ancestors cauterized the bone armor, and cracks were produced on the tortoise shell, and people recorded it on the tortoise shell according to the crack ** good luck and evil.
Oracle bone divination has a very complicated procedure to first drill and chisel on the back of the tortoise shell, and then place the fire bar on the back of the oracle bone at the drill and chisel, due to the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction, the oracle bone will burst, that is"Mega lines", the historian judged the good luck and evil according to the shape of the omen. Then the content of the divination question is engraved out, that is, the divination. If there is an important divination, it will be painted with cinnabar in the depiction of the characters. Generally, the large characters are coated with cinnabar, and the small characters are coated with ink. Finally, the historian will inscribe the fulfillment of the event on the back of the relevant divination.
Wang Yirong's discovery is significant.
Prior to this, the gold inscription recorded on bronze objects was considered to be the oldest known script in China. After that, the oracle bone script became the oldest known script. Wang Yirong is known as the "father of oracle bones".
*Collector Luo Zhenyu is very interested in this. From 1907 onwards, he continued to collect oracle bones. He found the oracle bone in Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan, which laid the foundation for the subsequent historical excavation of Yinxu and also found the direction for further research on the oracle bone inscription.
The discovery of oracle bone inscriptions also provides rich materials for the study of the history and culture of the Yin Shang, and these ancient texts prove the existence of the Yin Shang and record the history of the Yin Shang.
In 1928, the Institute of History and Philology of the ** Research Institute went to Anyang to begin an investigation of the excavation of oracle bones in Yinxu.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, archaeologists continued to excavate the Yin Ruins, and the study of oracle bone inscriptions has also achieved important results.
As of November 2022, a total of about 150,000 pieces have been found in Chinese Oracle.