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AbriefintroductionofOraclebonesOraclebonesarepiecesofshellorbone,normallyfromoxscapulaeorturtleplastrons,whichweremainlyusedfordivinationinShangdynasty.TheoracleboneinscriptionsexcavatedfromtheYinRuinsrepresenttheearliestChinesewritingsavailabletousatthepresenttime.Furthermore,ofallscriptsusedbyancientworldcivilizations,oracleboneinscriptionsarethesourceoftheonlywritingsystemstillinwideusetoday.In1880,oracleboneswerediscoveredthroughoutvariouspartsofChina,but,atthattime,theywereusedmerelyasingredientsinChinesemedicines.Itwasnotuntil1899thatscholarsrecognizedthatoracleboneswereimportantartifactsofhighacademicvalue.Alegendarytalestatesthatscholarandhigh-rankingQingdynastyofficialWángYìróngwassickwithmalaria（疟疾）in1899.SoheboughtChinesemedicine“dragonbones”totakeandfoundtheancientwordsonitbychance.Anotherlegendarytalesaidin1899,whentheoracleboneswereunearthedbylocalfarmers,somebusinessmenboughttheseandsenttoBeijingtosell.WángYìróngrecognizedtheancientwordsandboughtoraclebonesinhighprice.ItisnotknownhowWangactuallycameacrossthesedragonbones,butWangiscreditedwithbeingthefirsttorecognizetheirsignificance.Afterthis,oraclebonesescapedtheirformerfateasmedicalingredients,andbecameprizedacademic,historicalmaterials.Atthesametime,however,therecognitionofthevalueoforaclebonesquicklyledtorampantprivateexcavations.Inordertodeterillegaldiggingandexcavationoperations,theIHPled15archaeologicalexcavationsattheYinRuinsinAnyangcounty,Henanprovince,Chinabetween1928and1937.Thismarkedthefirsteverscientificarchaeologicalexcavationsoforaclebones.Atotalofapproximately25,000oraclebonefragmentswereexcavatedduringthisperiod,and,duetotheexcavationsconductedduringthistenyearspan,IHPcametopossesstheworld’slargestcollectionoforaclebones.Thenumerousarcheologicalandfieldworkdataaccumulatedduringtheseexcavationsalsoprovidedfirst-handhistoricalmaterialsforresearchinthefieldsofarchaeology,paleography,andhistory.Intheearly20thcentury,therearefourfamousoraclebonesexpertsnamedLuoZhenyu,WangGuowei,GuoMoruoandDongZuobing.Inaddition,SunYirang,ChenMengjiaandsoonarealsofamousoraclebonesresearcher.Itisbecausetheirremorselessendeavorthatwecanknowsomuchaboutoraclebonesnow.Thecontentoforacleboneinscriptionsincludesbuci(divinations)andchronicleinscriptions.Chronicleinscriptionsarerecordsofeventsand/oroccurrencesandarenotdirectlyrelatedtodivination.BucirepresentarecordofdivinationspreformedbyorforYin-Shangroyalty.Royaltyfromthattimeperformeddivinationstodecidenearlyallaspectsoflife,and,inthisway,theoraclebonesactasavivid,livinghistory.TheyfullyandtruthfullyrecordnearlyeveryoccurrencepertinenttotheShangroyalty,andarethemostaccuratehistoricalrecordsfromthatperiod.TheOracleBoneDivinationProcess:(Indentation→DivinationQuestion→InscriptionofBuCi).First,oraclebonematerialsareprepared,andcutandthinnedasmuchaspossible.Forexample,theabdomenandbackportionoftortoiseshellsareseparatedandsmoothedflat,andtheridgesofanimalbonesarecutandflattened.Indentationsaremadeonthebackoftheoracleshellsorbones.Theseindentationsareadvantageoustotheproductionofbuzhao(signs)onthefrontofshellsorbonesduringdivination.Duringthedivination,adivinerfirstexplainsthecontentofthequestiontobepredicted.Thenasmolderingstickisusedtoburntheindentedareas.Atthistime,cracksappearonthebonesorshells;thesecracksarereferredtoasbuzhao(signs).Afterwards,thekingorahistorianmakesapredictionbasedonthebuzhao,andahistorianinscribesthecontentofthedivinedquestionandtheresultonthebonesorshells.Theseinscriptionsformthebuci(divinations)weseetoday.Acompletebuciincludesfourparts:1)The“preface”2)The“charge”3)The“prognostication”4)The“verification”Themeaningofdiscoveryoforaclebonesissignificant.Tohistory,philologyorarchaeology,itisallveryimportantsignificance.Atpast,manypeopleholdthesuspectattitudetowardstheexistenceofShangDynastyuntiloracleboneswerefound.OraclebonesreflectthedivinationwindisprosperousinShangDynasty.ThediscoveryoforacleandcausedbytheYinruinsdiscoveredisveryimportanttoChinesearchaeology.Today,over1.5billionpeopleusethe“Chinesecharacter”writingsystem,andtheoriginofthiswritingsystemcanbetracedbacktooracleboneinscriptions.Whenviewedfromtheperspectiveofcivilizationdevelopment,thereisnoquestionthattheoracleboneinscriptionsrepresentacollective,humanmemory.