Animal bone with oracular inscription (Part1 2902, 2903, R035140)

Tags: divination | oracle bone | Shang dynasty

Obtained in the Institute of History and Philology's third excavation of the Yin ruins, it belongs to the Dui group of the first period of divination inscriptions. This piece of bone is frail, and making a rubbing is inconvenient, so it has always been published only as a photograph.
With most examples of oracle bone inscriptions from the Yin ruins, generally they are all inscribed facing toward the joint. The inscription carved upon this piece, however, is inscribed with an orientation facing downward away from the joint, a unique example. Between each inscription there are clearly drawn boundary lines. 

 

Rubbing dimensions: length 36.5 cm, width 17.5 cm. Object dimensions: length 36.5 cm, width 17.5 cm

 

Excavation date: 1929, 3rd Xiaotun excavation
Place of excavation: Xiaotun, Anyang County, Henan Province

 

Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
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