The Study On The Utensil Of Inscriptions On Bones Or Tortoise Shells

A large quantity of utensil characters, existing in the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells, is the significant object of Palaeography. It deeply influences the inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells that Shang dynasty has diverse utensil in a great deal, which contains the massive cultural information. Studying the utensil characters of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells is a important means to explore Shang's material culture and spiritual culture. However the studies on Shang's utensil culture nowadays are attached to archaeological discovery, the studies in aspect of the language and character are seldom; only disperses to special studies in certain aspects. Accidentally, some studies research some or some kinds of utensil characters. But in general, nobody has ever made any comprehensive cleaningup and systematic study to the utensil characters. Therefore this thesis attempts to make a overall and systematic study on utensil characters of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells, in order to supply valuable material to the study on the characters on bones or tortoise shells and the history of Shang.This thesis includes five chapters: chapter one is the sorts and the quantity of utensil characters, which categorizes the utensil characters in according to the use of the utensil , lists the glyph and counts each kind of quantity. Chapter two is the structure of utensil characters, which analyzes the structure of utensil characters as well as the association mode and the type of express meaning when utensil characters made up a new character. This chapter also researches the psychology of the ancient people when they created the characters. Chapter three is the analysis of the meaning, which supplements the meaning in dictionary of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells, written by Xu Zhongshu. This chapter also analyzes the sorts of utensil characters' subject meaning and the relationship between character and word. Chapter four includes the compare between the utensil of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells and of inscriptions on the bronze in quantity, structure of the character and the meaning, the compare between the utensil of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells and the cultural relics of Shang, Zhou dynasty to conclude the feature of the utensil characters in inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells. Chapter five is the cultural information carrying by the utensil characters of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells, which discusses the living and eating customs, the level of agricultural productivity, the way of transportation, the degree of science and technology, the courtesy system, the aggression and penalty, the music and dance, cleaning, etc.