Archaeological Research On The Forms Of Ancient Chinese Inscriptions

The forms of ancient inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells and those on bronze objects are reflections of the actual social life of its times. As the objects of archaeological research, these inscriptions forms the historical and cultural deposit of ancient Chinese society, which are full of material and cultural contents and are actually "living fossils", and the forms and structures of which are fully qualified the functions of historical materials. From the forms of these ancient characters, people can gain some knowledge over the cultures when they were coined so as to better understand the part of the history and culture of these ancient words. Examples:Ⅰ. Fishing, hunting tools and methods of ancient society can be revealed. Traces of fishing and hunting tools are still kept in the forms of these old characters: (?) (A Whole Compilation of the Inscriptions on Bones of Tortoise Shells, refer to as Compilation later. 137),(?) (北单爵),(?) (Compilation, 9572),(?) (Compilation, 8713),(?) (单盉); (?) (Compilation, 166),(?) (Compilation, 7932),(?) (Compilation, 20117),(?) (商弓父庚卣); (?) (Compilation, 23053),(?) (Compilation, 23053),(?)(《乙》221); (?) (Compilation, 10667),(?) (Compilation, 10976正),(?) (Compilation,10308); while some other inscriptions tell the methods of fishing and hunting, such as: (?) (Compilation, 21586),(?) (令鼎); (?) (Compilation, 10759) (?) (Compilation, 10353),(?) (Compilation, 10703); (?) (Compilation, 19332),(?) (Compilation, 4227); (?) (Compilation, 10657),(?) (Compilation, 20745),(?) (Compilation, 24382). In ancient times, hunting was an important activity in surviving, obtaining food and training soldiers. The forefathers had not only produced a series of tools fit for hunting, such as Gan (a simple weapon made of tree branches with a crotch at one end); Dan (Tree branch with stones attached to both sides at the end of the crotch); bow and arrow; and net. They also practiced varieties of hunting methods, for instance, the nets and arrows for the birds, while for large animals they used traps, or they chased and shot them with arrows.Ⅱ. The forms of ancient inscriptions are reflections of ancient social life. Among those inscribed on bones or tortoise shells, the formation of the character"(?)" (Compilation, 31951) shows that there is a hand over the water container, beside which a figure with upright hairs, kneeling, looks like washing his face with one arm bending toward the face. "(?)" is the initial form of the word "沬". In the Water Section of Commentary to the Shuowen jiezi Compiled by Duan Yucai, under the title沬, the explanation is:沬, washing face. The ancient word沬 has a formation part as页. There is another word "(?)", the form of which is an associative compound of廾,水and页, with the meaning of holding water to wash the face. The bone or shell inscription"(?)" (Inscription Bones from Little Tunnan p4429) is the initial form of the word "盥", and it has the forms of (?) (夆弔匜),(?)(齐侯盘),(?)((?)爵),(?)((?)鼎) in the bronze inscription records. The form of this word has the meaning of washing hands. In the formation of this word there is a container(皿) and a hand(手), the dots on both sides of the hand denote water drops, thus such an inscription has the meaning of washing hands in the container. The basic meaning is washing hands. The forms of "(?)"and"(?)"are reflections of the sanitary customs of ancient Chinese.Ⅲ. Safety ideas and fortune concept of the ancient can be revealed. The ancient inscriptions (?) (Compilation, 905正), (?)(《佚》992) and (?) (Compilation, 26730) are the initial forms of安,定and寧. The forms and structures of these characters contains the knowledge of the ancient people toward safety. Houses, females and food are the 3 factors for safety. The fortune concepts of the ancient are well reflected on the words"富", "福"and"宝", the ancient forms of which are respectively (?) (An Earlier Compilation of the Inscriptions on Bones or Shells, 4.23.8), (?)(Compilation, 32979) and"(?)" (Compilation, 17512).Ⅳ. The initial meanings of the ancient inscriptions are reflected by the pictographic forms of these characters. The bone or shell inscription of "受"is (?) (Compilation, 7447), which denotes the situation of accepting a sacrificial plate on sacrificial offerings. The word part (?) is a boat-shaped plate container. The ancient form of "我"is"(?)", the form of which coincides with the unearthed object, and this is a proof that"我" is actually a kind of saw-tooth-shaped weapon with 3 sharp points. The bone or shell inscriptions of磬is (?) (Compilation, 13507) , and鼓is (?) (Compilation, 6956). Both磬and鼓can be percussion instruments hung up with ropes. This fact can be deducted from the round hole at the upper middle part of the unearthed磬(chime stone) and鼓(jade drum), and especially so from the sign of wear and tear around the round hole of the石磬(chime stone). Similarly, if we understand the upper parts for (?) and (?) symbolize the ropes to hang these instruments, we can also feel sure about the word (?) (Compilation,9738) ,which was also a kind of percussion instrument, but later was borrowed to denote the direction south by the character "南"。Ⅴ. The ancient inscriptions confirm the authenticity of pre-Qin books and records. The ancient burial customs recorded in Zhouyi·Xi Ci Xia is like this: the ancient buried their dead in the open field, covered the body with thick layers of branches, no earth covering, no trees (planted). They did not have any mourning period, either. Saints from later generations changed the custom into using coffins for the dead. Mr. Kong Yingda explains this record as: for remote ages, we call that very ancient, nearer than that, we refer directly to it as ancient.……not piling earth to build a tomb, this is not covering with earth; not planting trees to show where the dead was buried was called no trees.……coffins appeared after the Shang Dynasty, and before the Xia Dynasty there were no coffins at all. The lesser seal character of the word (?) .The Canon of Shun chapter of Shangshu (Revered Documents) record as: To show people (the law) to make laws evident, to send people into exile so as to lessen their punishment; to take whipping for official punishment, sticking for education, money for ransom, those who committed unintentional crimes should be pardoned while those not regretful be severely punished. The initial form of (?) (Compilation, 5974) in the bone or shell inscription is "圉", and for"幸", its initial form is (?). Originally it means shackles, that is, handcuffs; (?) (Compilation, 27306正) is the initial form of"執",(?) (縣妃簋) of"縣"or"悬"; (?) ((?)匜) of鞭;劓is (?) (Compilation, 5995正) in the bone and shell inscriptions;刖is (?) (Compilation, 6003); castration (gelding or spaying) is (?). The existence of these characters on the one hand serve as a plain proof of the severe punishment of the Shang Dynasty, while on the other it also confirmed that the record in the Canon of Shun chapter of Shangshu (Revered Documents) is based on historical facts.To conclude, by way of the analyses and textual researches, especially by way of analyzing the forms and structures of ancient inscriptions, by checking and back-checking with reference to ancient data, archaeological diggings, folklore and cultural anthropology, and by researches on ancient social production and social life, political systems, rituals and custom, ideology and the shape and coinage of utensils, with the help of scientific research and archaeological study, the part of the history and culture of ancient society will become more evident before our eyes.