Jiahu symbols
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The Jiahu symbols (simplified Chinese: 贾湖契刻符号; traditional Chinese: 賈湖契刻符號; pinyin: Jiǎhú qìkè fúhào) comprise a corpus of markings on prehistoric artifacts found in Jiahu, a neolithic site of Peiligang culture in Henan, China. The Jiahu symbols are dated to around 6000 BC.[1]
The site was excavated in 1989.[1] Although at first a total of 17 groups of symbols were identified,[1] intensive scrutiny has found there to be only 11 definitely incised signs, of which 9 were incised on tortoise shells and an additional 2 on bone.[2] The archaeologists who made the original finds believed the markings to be similar in form to some characters used in the much later oracle bone script (e.g. similar markings of 目 "eye", 日 "sun; day"), but most doubt that the markings represent systematic writing.[3] A 2003 report in Antiquity interpreted them "not as writing itself, but as features of a lengthy period of sign-use which led eventually to a fully-fledged system of writing".[2] The earliest known body of writing in the oracle bone script dates much later to the reign of the late Shang dynasty king Wu Ding, which started in about c. 1250 BC[4] or 1200 BC.[5]
Interpretation as writing
There is no consensus on the nature of the Jiahu signs. Some researchers assume this to be a very early writing system, based on the resemblance of few symbols to much later historic scripts and their placement (turtle shells and bones) hinting at the divination practices of the Late Shang dynasty. Some shells exhibit holes similar to the ones used in the Shang oracle bones to insert heat sources, causing cracking interpreted by diviners. The opponents point to the signs being too primitive and inconsistent to be part of a writing system. There is also a possibility of some signs being a result of unintentional damage or used as workshop marks.[6]
See also
- Vinča symbols, a similarly old find in Europe
- Gudi (instrument)
- Neolithic signs in China
- Undeciphered writing systems
References
- ^ a b c Zhang, Juzhong; Cui, Qilong (2013). "Chapter 10: The Jiahu Site in the Huai River Area". In Underhill, Anne P. (ed.). A Companion to Chinese Archaeology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-118-32578-0.
- ^ a b Li, Xueqin; Harbottle, Garman; Zhang, Juzhong; Wang, Changsui (2003). "The earliest writing? Sign use in the seventh millennium BC at Jiahu, Henan Province, China". Antiquity. 77 (295): 31–44. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00061329. ISSN 0003-598X. S2CID 162602307.
- ^ Rincon, Paul (17 April 2003). "'Earliest writing' found in China". BBC News.
- ^ Boltz, William G. (2003) [1994]. The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System. American Oriental Series. Vol. 78. New Haven, Connecticut, USA: American Oriental Society. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-940490-18-5.
- ^ Keightley, David N. (1985). Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China. University of California Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-520-05455-4. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
- ^ Demattè 2022, p. 104.
Sources
- Demattè, Paola (2022). "Early and Middle Neolithic Signs to the Fourth Millennium BCE". The Origins of Chinese Writing. Oxford University Press. pp. 99–148. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197635766.003.0005. ISBN 9780197635766.