CHIA-KU-WEN

Pinyin Jiaguwen, English bone and shell script pictographic script, the earliest known in China, found on oracle bones used in divination in the Shang dynasty (c. 1766-c. 1122 BC). Turtle carapaces and ox scapulae with inscriptions scratched into them were discovered about 1900 in the area of Hsiao-t'un, a village in Honan province. In subsequent excavations, scholars uncovered extensive remains and conclusive evidence for the existence of the Shang dynasty. Apparently, characters were first brushed on the bone in red or black ink and then incised with a sharp instrument. Heat was then applied to the bone or shell, which caused it to crack, and omens were divined from the resulting patterns. The script's characters are not consistent in either size or structure, and, while generally written from top to bottom, the configuration of the bone or shell determined a free and sometimes arbitrary arrangement.