Inseribed Bones Clue to Early Chinese Writing rhe discovery of the inscribed ones of the Shang Period, common-referred to as the Oracle Bones or the Honan Bones, was one of the nest. Important archaeological dis-Toreries in the history of China, Secording to Mr. H, E, Gibson, who dove a lecture entitled "The Inséribed Hones of Shang" to members of the evening.
Toya Aslatle Society on Thursday
Mr, Gibson said that for some unown reason these bones did not tome to the attention of Chinese Scholars until after the Rev.
Ghalfant and the Rev. Samuel Couling ferred a emall collection during the year 1900 from a dealer at Woitsien, Honan, After the Boxer trouble had subsided, Chalfont started collecting Jange mimpers of the inscribed tor-{oiseshell and bones, and these were Inter distributed in various museums. The. first museum to acquire and exhibit a collection was the Shanghai Museum of the Royal Asintle Society, North China Branch. Later on, the Royal Scottish Museum, the Carnegie museum, the British Museum and the Field Museum acquired collections In the year 1928, the Academia sinica began extensive excavations in Honan on modern lines, and their elfer's were rewarded by the us covering of a cast collection of inseribed bones a well as various objects and utensils belonging to the early Shang civilization. The site where the excavations too ie place was own as Hsiao Tun, a fow miles from Anyang. This had now been proved to be the location of the Shang capital which was destroyed by. flood from the Yellow River about 1100 TLC. The excavations had provided material which had already loured up many doubtful points. in connection with ancient Chinese his tory. They had proved beyond doubt thatthe Shangs were bronze using people.
Wigh State of Culture They had also proved that the people of this period had a high Hate of culture, and that the written Tanguage of Ching probably otlgin" ated long prior. to their time, For three thousand years or more the yellow Toesy of Honan had kept undisturbed a valuable heritage China consisting of large quantities of bones, tortoise-shell and deer horn which had been inscribed with the pictonraphs used by the people of Shang. 'These pictographs upon which the present Chinese character welting was based throw now light upon the evolution of the Chinese written language. They not only showed how characters originated, but shed considerable light on the fusloms' and history of the Shang period, There was every reason to believe that the art of writing In China probably ante-dated that found on the Shang. Inseribed bones, as many of the pictographs had already devel oped" into. symbols, which showed that during the Shang pene] writing was in a state of evolution, and that purely. pletographie signs were gradually tossing their primitive eharacleristies, The eruide though, at times artiste pictograph was "gradually riving way to shorter, more convent fat Tess crude and Toss complicated Mr, Gibson tilusteated his lecture with bones taken from his own collection, and that of the Royal Asiatic Sneioty, explaining the meaning and character of the various signs inseribed on the exhibits.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.