Identification of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's Collection

It is not clever for the descendants of Oracle Bone Inscriptions to practise fraud, so we should pay attention to the following points when identifying them:

Look at Oracle Bone Inscriptions's old and new first. Oracle bones have been buried in the ground for more than 3,000 years and are called "sub-fossils" by some scholars, which naturally has a sense of simplicity. Forgers often use large versions of fresh bovine bones to carve words (because tortoise shells are difficult to carve and easy to break), so be careful when carving large versions of bovine bones. For example, James Mellon Menzies, a Presbyterian pastor in England, started collecting Oracle Bone Inscriptions in 19 14. Results The first time I bought the big bone version, all of them were imitation fresh bovine bones, which rotted and stinked after a short period of collection. (Some fakes are re-engraved on Oracle Bone Inscriptions outside the soil. For example, there is only one word in the original film, and he added seven or eight words, so it should be noted that the real Oracle Bone Inscriptions is not necessarily Oracle Bone Inscriptions. )

Second, if you can visually observe the real thing, you can look at the old and new incisions. Even if the unearthed Oracle bones are newly carved, counterfeiters often smear them with clay because of the new incision. Soon after the Oracle bones are soaked in water, you can brush off the soil with a brush, and the incision is clear at a glance. Authentic products are deeply engraved and generally indelible because of their earthy color. This practice of using water will do great harm to cultural relics, especially in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which is not well preserved, and it was decadent when it was unearthed in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Invite experts as much as possible. If not, you can use a magnifying glass. If you zoom in to a certain extent, you can clearly see the difference. )

Third, see if the content conforms to Oracle Bone Inscriptions's method of writing examples. Because forgers don't know the contents of Oracle bone inscriptions, most of them copy down the words on the real film at random, make a patchwork of them, and even write them backwards, and they don't know if they are wrong. Therefore, we should pay attention to whether the lettering is connected into sentences during the identification. A complete Oracle Bone Inscriptions consists of four parts: preface (also known as recitation, the date of divination, and the name of the diviner, usually a historian of Shang Dynasty), inquiry (also known as destiny, which is something to ask), accounting (the Shang Dynasty saw the conclusion of right and wrong after divination) and verification (the fulfillment of the result after divination), but many Oracle Bone Inscriptions are composed of four parts.

Fourth, look at the lettering format. There are two styles of inscriptions on tortoise shells: those carved on the left and right, and read from the outside to the inside. Specifically, the words engraved on the left side of tortoise shell are read from left to right, and those engraved on the right side are read from right to left. The other is the characters on both sides of the middle seam of tortoise shell, carved from the inside out, that is, the words on the left side of the middle seam are read from left to left, and the words on the right side are read from right to right. Inscriptions on cattle bones are generally engraved on the edge of the bones and read from the outside to the inside. Several Oracle Bone Inscriptions carved together, generally arranged from bottom to top.

Fifth, look at the font. Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty crossed 12 Shang kings from Pan Geng to Di Xin for more than 270 years. The date of Oracle Bone Inscriptions can be clearly judged as the eight Shang kings from Wuding to Diyi. During this period, the writing style has changed. According to these changes and other archaeological achievements, some scholars divide Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins into five periods. The first period is Wuding period, and the font is relatively large, while the fifth period is relatively small, and some writing strokes are different, which can be found in Oracle Bone Inscriptions reference books (for example, The Compilation of Gaoming Ancient Characters by Zhonghua Book Company, 1980 edition).

Sixth, look at the names of Zhen people (fortune tellers). The real person, who was divining for the king at that time, was a historian. Zhen people lived in a certain period, and the surname Zhen is one of the basis of dating. Early and late Zhen people could not be in charge of divination, so they should not appear on the same Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Many monographs have studied this, and the list is clear at a glance (for example, Chen's "An Overview of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins").

Generally speaking, Oracle Bone Inscriptions's identification of fakes is simpler than other cultural relics, but we should be more careful when copying all the originals or a piece of Oracle bones with unearthed inscriptions without words. Previous studies on this work have achieved gratifying results. Generally speaking, many of the Oracle Bone Inscriptions recorded by westerners are forgeries, such as Oracle Bone Inscriptions collected by Kufang, Oracle Bone Inscriptions collected by Bergen and Oracle Bone Inscriptions collected by Zhang Jin. So be careful when quoting. For example, in the 668th Oracle Bone Inscriptions collected by Zhang Jin, there are three original works of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in the upper left part, such as "Ugly King Bu Zhenxun has no misfortune for Wang Zhan and Yue Ji", while the words in the lower half are large and clear, but they are meaningless in the text, so they are fakes. Some forgers are originally lettering, so they are taken in by antique dealers and specialize in forging inscriptions. For example, Lan Baoguang mentioned in Dong Zuobin's "Fifty Years of Oracle Bone Inscription" can imitate a complete real movie, and the fineness can be confused. Fortunately, this person doesn't know how to write examples, otherwise he will "make" on the Oracle bones, which will add a lot of trouble to today's work of distinguishing fakes.

In addition to Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, a large number of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Western Zhou Dynasty have been discovered since 1954, many of which are written. It has been half a century since the discovery of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Yin Ruins, and there is no wind of counterfeiting, so of course there is no need to distinguish between counterfeiting.