The oracle bone script is so cute that even I am scared!

▲The picture shows Zao Wou-Ki's "Landscape with Moon". The painter drew inspiration from oracle bone inscriptions and Chinese bronze inscriptions to create a work full of fantasy and mysterious atmosphere of dots and lines. Did you see it?

When we talk about oracle bone inscriptions, we always think of those obscure ancient texts, like this:

Or like this

The above mentioned

It seems that only experts can understand it.

In fact, there are many cute characters in oracle bone script.

It's like a simple drawing by the ancients.

If you don't believe it, take a look at a set of emoticons first——

"Fight": Fight with pictures when there is a disagreement

“服”: I kneel down!

"Riding": The vast horizon is my love~

Isn't it cute?

actually

If you really get the points of ancient characters

You will find

The ancients were really cute

▼

Some words, when you look at them, you will think they are very "cute"

For example, the character “龟”

Clear at a glance, and cute

Isn't this just taking pictures from the side or from above with your phone?

It is exactly the two ways of writing the oracle bone script of the word "turtle".

Top and side views of a turtle

besides

The word "zhù"

The meaning of displaying musical instruments

This is what the oracle bone script says

Its shape shows a drum standing there

How about the Shang Dynasty animal-faced drum? Looks very similar, right?

In daily life

Many of our Chinese characters are made from the character “壴”

For example, the “drum” in “encourage”

A person is hitting the drum with a drumstick

There is also the “喜” in “喜” (festive)

It means to express the joy of hearing drum music.

So there is a 喪 on top.

The “口” below means grinning.

There is also the character "Peng"

What is the sound of a drum?

"Boom boom boom"

The five strokes on the right are oracle bone script

The three paintings are bronze inscriptions

Regardless of three or five strokes

They all mean "bang bang bang"

(Later, a “口” was added to the left of “彭” to specifically represent this sound, which is “嘭”)

However

The cutest thing is——

This character "Peng" is written on pottery

It looks like this

(Are you sure it’s not the rescuers sent by Teletubbies?!)

There is also this word: "猱(náo)"

A macaque

What is Oracle?

Answer: A cute little monkey

And this——

Known as "the cutest character in oracle bone script"

Guess what it will be

What? Cat? Meow!

NONONO!

It just looks like a cat

actually

This one looks a lot like a cat

Words that look like cats

It's not a cat

It is

A bronze vessel used for eating in ancient times——

tripod

The two "cat ears" above

Actually, it's Tier

The four "cat legs" below

Of course it is the tripod

so

Imagine

If you write "问顶天下" in oracle bone script

Isn't it "Ask Cat World"?

"Three-legged three-pointer" VS "Cat-foot three-pointer"

…

I seem to understand one thing

The identity of cats on Earth

It’s really not simple

Except like a cat

Some Oracle characters also do anime Cosplay

For example, Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants

There is a word in oracle bone script

It has the same face shape as its face. If you don't believe it, please see the picture.

In fact, this is a word "fighting"

The painting shows two people fighting.

But somehow

I bumped into Squidward.

Not unique

Squidward's "good friend" SpongeBob

It also bumped into an oracle bone script

Look at this word

We can guess it.

It is the Chinese character for “牙” (teeth).

Do they look like four front teeth?

The ancients created characters in a very simple and crude way.

Even SpongeBob's pet snail

There is also an oracle bone script that looks like

It looks like the Chinese character "单" with two big eyes.

Such cute Chinese characters

Who would have thought that it was an ancient weapon?

Tie stones on both ends of the tree branch.

You can use it to hit or chop people...

There are also some oracle bone inscriptions

It's just an emoticon

For example, the word "子"

No matter how you look at it, they are brothers with the "spreading hands" expression

The following oracle bone script

Does it look familiar?

Could it be the legendary Ultraman?

In fact, it is a "star"

Maybe this word

Is it hinting that Ultraman comes from an alien planet?

There are some oracle bone inscriptions

The picture is of a cute little matchstick man

It feels like it's about to move.

For example, the character “天”

It is a little man with his head emphasized.

Original meaning: "head"

Later extended to mean "sky"

Probably because both are supreme.

The most vivid

The word "shit"

The ancients could understand the matter of pooping.

The painting is so straightforward

I never expected that...

at last

Let's talk about the word "Wu"

(Those with the last name "Wu" should pay more attention)

Oracle bone script is written like this

There is a "mouth" on it

The following is not actually "sky"

It is "夨", which is pronounced sideways.

Indicates head is on one side

When does the head tilt to one side?

When dancing

Very happy

So the "口" above

It has the same meaning as the "口" below the character "喜".

It means to smile.

So the original meaning of the word "Wu"

It means entertainment

This word

It is actually the original character for “娱” (entertainment).

later

"Wu" is used exclusively as a country name and surname

So the word "yu" was created to represent entertainment.

so

Words with the character "吴" in their shape

Mostly related to entertainment

For example, "Yu"

The original meaning is to dance with a tiger mask

In addition to Oracle

In ancient texts

The "口" in "吴" is often

If it is written particularly prominently, it means that you are particularly happy.

Like this, my mouth is laughing out of my body——

There is also this

Do you feel a strong Tom and Jerry style?

but

If there is a classmate named Wu who is not serious

The word "Wu" is written like this

Classmate, you are happy.

Don't hit your head like a volleyball!

Hard core knowledge

In fact, oracle bone script has another name - oracle bone inscriptions.

The reason why it got this name is because it has an important function: divination. So, how did the Shang Dynasty use oracle bones for divination?

Taking the tortoise shells from Yinxu as an example, the process is roughly as follows: the tortoise is killed and the ventral carapace (the carapace is also used) is taken out for preliminary treatment, including sawing, trimming and polishing.

Several drills are made on the back of the treated turtle plastron. The drill is to use a tool to form a slightly oval or jujube-shaped groove, and the drill is to use a tool to form a circular groove.

Illustration of a single group of drilling and chiseling (drilling on the right and chiseling on the left):

The drill bit is usually divided by the middle seam of the turtle's plastron (commonly known as the "Thousand Mile Road"). The left half is drilled on the right side of the chisel, and the right half is drilled on the left side of the chisel, which is symmetrical on the left and right.

Photos and rubbings of the back of the real turtle carapace with drills and chisels:

When fortune-telling, the grooves drilled on the back of the turtle's plastron are burned with fire (burning hardwood), which is called "burning the omen" or "burning the turtle". Since the shell at the drilled part is already very thin, once burned at high temperature, a "divination"-shaped crack appears on the corresponding part of the front, which is called "omen pattern".

Schematic diagram of divination patterns (below), the patterns are divided into two parts: the vertical "mo" (also called "zhao guang" and "zhao gan") and the horizontal "zhao" (also called "zhao ke" and "zhao zhi").

It can be seen that the vertical trunk corresponds to the chisel on the back, and the horizontal branch corresponds to the drill on the back, so the directions of the trunk and branches are also symmetrical with the "Thousand Mile Road" as the center line:

People at that time believed that the divination-shaped cracks on the front of the tortoise shell caused by burning during divination ceremonies directly indicated good or bad luck.

Finally, the fortune-telling is judged based on the various forms of the cracks, and the words are carved on the tortoise shell. If animal bones are used for divination, the shoulder blades of animals such as cattle are usually taken and treated, drilled, burned, and carved.

These inscriptions on tortoise shells and animal bones used for divination are what later generations called "oracle bone inscriptions."