Xia Nai, a famous archaeologist, once said, "there are three treasures in the Yin Ruins of Anyang: Oracle Bone Inscriptions, bronzes and the ruins of the capital." This is from the perspective of the emergence and process of civilization, highly valued the value and significance of Yin Ruins.
Oracle
Oracle bone inscriptions are thought to have been discovered by chance. In 1899, Wang Yirong, an alchemist of the Qing Dynasty, discovered an unknown ancient character engraved on a traditional Chinese medicine "dragon bone". After research, we found out that some of the "keel" are tortoise shells, and some are cattle scapula. Later, people called the inscriptions on oracle bones inscriptions.
Since the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in 1899, more than 100 years ago, about 150000 pieces of oracle bone inscriptions have been unearthed from Yin Ruins, which are respectively collected in museums and academic institutions in 12 countries and regions, including China, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Japan. Over the past 100 years, the study of oracle bone inscriptions has formed an international prominent science, oracle bone science. According to the statistics of the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in 1999, there are 3881 experts and scholars in the world who have published more than 10000 kinds of monographs. In 2000, Sichuan Publishing House published a set of Oracle Bone literature integration, which sold for 56000 yuan. At present, there are more than 4700 single characters in oracle bone inscriptions, about 1700 of which can be recognized and have a clear relationship with modern Chinese characters. On July 3, 2004, 20 small pieces of oracle bone inscriptions were sold at public auction in Shanghai, with a sky high price of 52.8 million yuan.
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| Oracle bone inscriptions in Yin Ruins |
Guo Moruo (1892-1978), Dong Zuobin (1895-1963), Luo Zhenyu (1866-1940) and Wang Guowei (1877-1927) were the first four scholars who made important contributions to the study of oracle bone inscriptions. Because of the word "Tang" in their characters and numbers, they are called "four oracle bone inscriptions".
Luo Zhenyu (No. Xuetang), Wang Guowei (No. Guantang), Guo Moruo (No. dingtang), Dong Zuobin (ziyantang) (Jiagu 4th Hall)
In the oracle bone inscriptions, the "six characters" principle of Chinese characters (pictograph, reference, understanding, pictophonetic, borrowing and annotation) has appeared, showing a mature and systematic character sequence. Guo Moruo believes that the development of Chinese characters to oracle bone inscriptions has experienced a history of at least 1500 years. There are about 150000 pieces of oracle bone inscriptions unearthed from Yin Ruins, which are rich in contents and represent the political, economic, religious, military, social customs, historical and cultural features of that time. It should be noted that oracle bone inscriptions were written for the special needs of recording divination and sacrifice, and they were not the only carrier of the characters at that time. At the same time, there were not only gold inscriptions on bronze, but also written characters on bamboo or wooden slips represented by Oracle Bone Inscriptions such as "dian" and "CE", as well as written characters on jade and pottery. Fortunately, the inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells have been preserved because of their special use.
Bronzeware
There are tens of thousands of bronzes unearthed from Yin Ruins in Anyang, which can be divided into bronze ritual vessels, bronze weapons and tools, bronze products on carriages or wooden vessels, and burial objects for the dead. In the current collection, the bronze ritual vessels have the largest quantity, mainly including Ding, Zun, Gu, Jue, GUI, Fangyi, pan, Yu, Chen, Hu, Zhen, Yu, you and so on. Most of the bronzes are decorated with gorgeous patterns, which symbolize the profound social and historical significance. Among them, the main pattern is a kind of divine beast pattern known as "Taotie". The prominent features of "Taotie" pattern are giant eyes, wide mouth, pillar angle, sharp claws, snake body, etc., which are actually a kind of totem worship image.
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| Bronze wares of Yin Ruins |
The bronze wares unearthed from Yin Ruins in Anyang range from the simuWe square tripod weighing 832.84 kg to the small square tripod only 5 cm high and 3 cm in mouth. Its unique manufacturing technology and exquisite plastic arts and decorative arts mark the prosperity and glory of ancient Chinese bronze age.
Capital site
The concept of Anyang Yin Ruins capital site can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. The broad sense of the concept of Yin Ruins capital is about 200 kilometers from Chaoge in the south to Neiqiu in the north. It is recorded in historical records that during the reign of King Zhou of Yin Dynasty, there were different palaces everywhere. In the center of Yin Ruins, there are Huan River, Tangshui river about 20 kilometers to the south, Qi river about 20 kilometers to the south, zhangshui river about 20 kilometers to the north, Fuyang River to the north, etc.
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| Yin dynasty ruins |
Wuding turtle: 44 cm long and 35 cm wide, it is the largest tortoise shell found in Yin Ruins.
The river flows eastward to the Yellow River. It is clearly recorded in oracle bone inscriptions that the king of Shang often traveled to the east of the river or took a boat to the Yellow River. There are Taihang in the West and Dahe in the east of Yin Ruins. The soft yellow sand land is the most suitable for primitive ancestors to survive.
In a narrow sense, the concept of Yin Ruins capital is the Shang King's palaces, ancestral temples, mausoleums and surrounding settlements along the Huan River with Xiaotun as the center. Including the Huanbei shopping mall with a wall of more than 8700 meters discovered in 2000.
There are a large number of rammed building sites in the capital site of Yin Ruins. The lower layer of these building sites is covered with pits of earlier period. Mr. Liang Siyong found that the upper layer of Hougang culture is the relic of white pottery culture, the middle layer is the relic of black pottery culture, and the lower layer is the relic of painted pottery culture, forming a sequence of Yangshao Longshan Yinxu three cultures.
With its oracle bone inscriptions, bronzes and large-scale capital sites, the Yin Ruins in Anyang mark a highly prosperous civilization in ancient China and become the coordinates and milestones of archaeological and historical research in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties in ancient China.
