A Typological Study On External Characteristics Of The Bin-group Oracle Bone Inscriptions From Yinxu

Using the jiaguwen of the Bin group,which represents more than half of the jiaguwen excavated in Yinxu,this study aims to develop a comprehensive typology based on the external characteristics of the characters,such as:the style of calligraphy, the disposition of the characters,the layout of the inscriptions.Therefore,in addition to the four large categories established by previous research(i.e.shi bin jian lei师宾间类,bin yi lei宾一类,dian bin lei典宾类,bin san lei宾三类),we delineate three transition types,as well as highlight the specific process of the successive changes occurring between each type.At the same time,by researching the components and the characteristics of the calligraphic styles,we discover that there exists a tight assemblage relation between the various patterns of the disposition of the characters and the layout of the inscriptions vis-(?)-vis the characteristics of the calligraphic style. Accordingly,during the process of the typological analysis of the calligraphic styles of the jiaguwen,we isolate and identify these characteristics as efficient typological criteria.In addition,with respect to the typology of every piece of jiaguwen belonging to the Bin group published in the Heji,we successfully establish to indicate the proportion of each type of jiaguwen of the Bin group by using a quantitative method.This thesis is composed of four chapters,tables and appendix.In the first chapter,we review the history of the previous research on typology of the jiaguwen of the Bin group,as well as set forth the remaining research questions and propose a plan for additional research.In the second chapter,we discuss the analytical methods and calligraphic styles types formerly used in fields research,such as archaeological typology and graphology,in order to establish their advantages and disadvantages.At the same time, we propose a new,broader type of analysis on the disposition of the characters and layout of the inscriptions.In the third chapter,on the basis of the previous chapter,we describe the typology method used in this thesis,demonstrate the steps of the analysis,explain the detailed corpus of data to which the steps will be applied and finally elaborate further on the concrete method of the topology analysis process.In the fourth chapter,in accordance with the previous chapter,we carry out the typological classification of every jiaguwen piece of the Bin group,and conducted extend comparisons between each type.In the appendix,labelled "synthetic table of calligraphic style typology of the Bin group's jiaguwen",we present the results of our typology research about every jiaguwen piece,which are categorized according to the numbering system of the Heji.The process of this research emphasizes the application of quantitative analysis in the field of jiaguwen typology.At the same time,we exploit the research value of the jiaguwen as three-dimensional and material data,in order to ultimately develop a new scope of research to the traditional jiaguwen research based on the content of the inscription.