How did the ancients record information?

In ancient China, according to different times, different methods were used to record information: at the earliest time, things were tied with ropes to record things, and later hieroglyphics were carved on tortoise shells and animal bones with stone tools, which were mainly used for divination and recording important activities of emperors. Later generations called this kind of writing Oracle Bone Inscriptions; Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a relatively mature language. Later, when bronzes appeared, people cast characters on bronzes to record information, such as important sacrifices, the holding and gifts of utensils. This kind of writing is called "bronze inscription" or "Zhong Dingwen"; Undeniably, people who used Oracle Bone Inscriptions and bronzes were aristocrats, but the appearance of characters was not caused by a single superstructure, so people at that time had other recording methods, such as bark, bamboo pieces and even hides. Evolved to the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period and even the Qin and Han Dynasties, because the demand for written information has increased a lot compared with the previous generation, wooden slips are familiar to us as a written carrier. At the same time, there are also written records on silk fabrics (silk books) and animal skins, or carved on stones.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, a great event happened in the history of information recording, that is, Cai Lun made paper. According to research, papermaking existed before Cai Lun, but there is no doubt that people in China used paper to record information after the Han Dynasty. This pioneering work has been used to this day. Before cameras, tape recorders and even computers appeared, it seemed that only this way of recording information was so widely used for so long.