A Research On The Oracle Bones In Northeastern China

This article is about the oracle bones of the Bonze Age in the northeast of China. The paper is totally divided into five parts.The first part is preface, what introduces the purpose of this research. Second,the discoveries, the shapes and the cultural identity of the oracle bones are summarized. Most of the oracle bones are discovered in area of Liaoxi, and some in northern Liaoning and eastern Jilin. But they are not found in other areas of northeastern China.The third part is about the classification of the oracle bones and the character of every age. First of all, the oracle bones are divided into type A and type B by being drilled or not. Then the type B oracle bones can be divided further into type Ba and type Bb by the distribution of the burn marks. The type A oracle bones lasted from Xia dynasty to later Shang dynasty, the type Ba oracle bones lasted from Western Zhou dynasty to Chunqiu dynasty, and the type Bb oracle bones lasted from later Shang dynasty to middle Chunqiu dynasty.The forth part discusses some problems on the oracle bones such as the origin of the oracle bones of the Bonze Age in northeastern China, the changes of the archaeological culture and the people in area of Liaoxi, and the relationships between the area of Liaoxi and surrounding areas. The types A oracle bones appeared in Lowwer Xiajiadian culture first. The type B oracle bones might be the successive of the oracle bones that appeared in Fuhe culture. There were at least two different oracle ways in the northeast of China. The oracle bones of Upper Xjajiadian culture are the same as the oracle bones of Shunshantun culture. So in early Western Zhou dynasty some people of Shunshantun culture might move to the west of Nuluerhu Mountain., and created the Upper Xiajiadian culture with the people from the Gaotaishan culture. The oracle bones of Zhukaigou culture were influenced by the oracle bones of Lowwer Xiajiadian culture in later Xia dynasty. In early Shang dynasty the oracle bones of Lowwer Xiajiadian culture influenced the oracle bones of Datuotou culture and early Shang dynasty culture. From later Shang dynasty to Chunqiu dynasty the oracle bones of Shang culture and Zhou culture influenced those of other cultures. But the oracle bones of Upper Xiajiadian culture were not influenced by those of any other culture.The last part is a summary. It lists the main points and the shortages of this article.