Bone Script: The Earliest Form of Chinese Writing

骨刻文是中国早期的一种文字

By Liu Fengjun (刘凤君)

Liu Fengjun (刘凤君), also known by the courtesy name Longpeng (龙朋) and the sobriquet Shentong Jushi (神通居士), was born in 1952 in Mengyin County, Shandong Province. He is the director of the Institute of Art Archaeology at Shandong University, where he also leads the Calligraphy Culture Research Institute and the Bone Script Research Institute. Liu serves as a professor and doctoral advisor at Shandong University’s School of History and Culture and is a distinguished professor at the School of Arts. His influence extends internationally, holding roles as an honorary fellow at the University of Bologna, academic advisor for Taiwan’s Hanguang Calligraphy Society, and consultant to Korea’s National Academy of Arts.

Liu Fengjun is the Father of Bone Script and Pioneer of Chinese Art Archaeology. Liu is renowned for discovering the ancient "bone script" (骨刻文) in 2005, which he identified as a precursor to the oracle bone script. This discovery has been hailed as transformative for Chinese paleography, earning him the title "Father of Bone Script" and "the modern Wang Yirong." His 2001 monograph Introduction to Art Archaeology was named one of the top 10 archaeological works of the 20th century, establishing him as the founding figure of China's art archaeology theoretical system. His recognition includes being listed among the “100 Leading Figures in Chinese Cultural Relics and Archaeology” in 2002 and receiving an honorary certificate from the California state government in 2009.

【Editor’s Note: Bone script, an ancient Chinese writing, predates oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions. Discovered in 2003 by Liu Fengjun, this script was found incised on bones from Longshan culture (c. 4,000–4,500 years ago) and has since been unearthed at various archaeological sites across China. Liu identified three primary types of character forms: realistic figurative, trunk-and-branch, and central-circle types. The arrangement of characters ranges from single symbols to grouped clusters and line formations, suggesting the gradual development of structured writing. Scientific dating of "Shu Gu 60" established its age at approximately 3,700 years. This discovery, alongside excavated finds from sites like Erlitou, Zhouyuan, and Shijia, provides critical evidence of a continuous Chinese writing tradition. Liu's classification system, corroborated by computational analysis, confirms the significance of bone script as a crucial link in China's 5,000-year scriptural evolution.】

1. The Discovery and Naming of Bone Script

In the early summer of 2003, accompanied by Liu Jiwen (刘继文), deputy director of the Four Gates Pagoda Cultural Relics Management Committee (Simen Ta Wen Guan Hui), I visited the Four Gates Pagoda (Si Men Ta) to pay homage before the recently returned statue of Aksobhya Buddha (阿閦佛像, A Chu Fo Xiang).[1] We stood outside the pagoda’s east gate, gazing silently upward in prayer at the image of the Buddha. The statue’s face, imbued with great compassion, evoked an everlasting wisdom; the silent light of Zen seemed to convey timeless truths. Suddenly, my cell phone rang. I answered. “Hello, Professor Liu! This is He Wei (贺伟).” He Wei was my former student, who had graduated from Shandong University’s archaeology program in 1984 and had since been working as an editor at Qilu Publishing House. “Hello, He Wei, I’m pleased to hear from you.” “Professor Liu,” he said, “in light of your outstanding achievements in archaeology, art history, paleography, and calligraphy, our press has decided to commission you to write a major monograph, Early Chinese Writing and Calligraphic Art (Zhongguo Zaoqi Wenzi Yu Shufa Yishu), which we intend to publish as a key project with significant publicity. We hope you will accept.”

China’s earliest writing—oracle bone script (甲骨文 jiaguwen) and bronze inscriptions (jinwen)—has always been a focus of my academic devotion and part of my research in the field of art archaeology. The calligraphic art inspired by the bronze inscription style has been my pursuit for decades. Some have even described me as a contemporary representative of the “heroic style” of bronze inscription calligraphy.[2] Hearing He Wei’s invitation, I replied, “Thank you! I’ll try to write it.”

Upon returning to the university, I considered the proposal carefully and decided that I could indeed write the book. First, I needed to gather basic materials: rubbings of oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, symbol-like decorative motifs from Neolithic pottery, as well as modern calligraphic works and scholarly research related to oracle bone and bronze inscription styles. After the summer break, I asked my graduate students to help collect these materials.

Oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions are relatively mature forms of writing. The marks incised on Neolithic pottery are simple decorative symbols, and those found on Dawenkou (大汶口) or Shuangdun (双墩) pottery—just one symbol per vessel—were likely mere markers, not true writing. They bear no direct ancestral relationship to oracle bone script or bronze inscriptions. The current consensus in paleography that oracle bone script could derive from Neolithic pottery symbols is evidently incorrect. Where are the true origins of oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions? What textual evidence underpins the five-millennia-old civilization of China? For a long time, these questions weighed heavily on my mind, echoing again and again in my thoughts.

As the saying goes, “What you long for in your heart may come true.” When you think about something for a long time, even if you cannot find a suitable conclusion, fate may present you with a favorable opportunity. Such an opportunity came my way in September 2003. Zhu Aiping (朱艾平), a director at the Shandong Art Museum, invited me to his home to appraise some of his collected artifacts. He had spread his treasures across the living room floor: pottery, porcelain, jade, and some bones. After a quick glance, I was drawn to the bones. I picked up two pieces and examined them closely, then looked through all the bones he had, eventually selecting five. Each of these five bones was engraved with several symbols—some had 2, others 5, still others a dozen or so. These symbols shared a consistent incised style and certain regularities in their forms. Observing each piece carefully, I noted a common technique: most lines were curved, carved by first a relatively straight downward cut on one side, then a more oblique cut on the other, building the line stroke by stroke. Thus, the incised lines on these bones were formed by a sequence of short, continuous strokes. The shapes also seemed rule-bound; some resembled animals, and others looked like branches or suns. I immediately believed these were characters—an early form of writing preceding oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions. Overjoyed, I turned to Director Zhu and said, “These symbols incised on the bones are writing. These bones date back to the Longshan culture (Longshan Wenhua) period. They must be an early form of Chinese script. Where did you get them?” Director Zhu pointed to a cupboard and said, “These were all dug up by local farmers around Zhangqiu (章丘) while farming and brought to me. I’ve just kept them here.” Since this was my first encounter with such early writing, I memorized it deeply but did not publicize it. Instead, I continued researching, always on the lookout for similar materials during identification and investigation.

After seeing the bone script in Zhu Aiping’s collection, I immersed myself for days in the study of oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, searching tirelessly for pre-oracle bone examples. The more I searched, the more convinced I became that between Neolithic pottery symbols and oracle bone script must lie a transitional form of early writing, more complex than mere decorative motifs. The characters on those bones in Zhu’s possession must be the source of oracle bone script, solid evidence of an unbroken 5,000-year Chinese civilization.

Heavenly favor sometimes smiles upon the persistent and passionate. Another stroke of good fortune arrived in November 2004. Our Shandong University Institute of Art Archaeology, in collaboration with Jinghongtang (景鸿堂) in Jinan (济南), hosted the “First Chinese Folk Yuan Dynasty Blue-and-White Porcelain Symposium,” which sparked a surge in the collection and study of Yuan blue-and-white porcelains. In March 2005, we were preparing a second symposium. One afternoon, while I was viewing porcelains provided by collectors in the exhibition hall with Zhang Chunsheng (张春生), general manager of Jinghongtang, he suddenly took from his pocket a small bone piece the size of a matchbox. “Professor Liu,” he said, “here is a bone piece I collected, engraved with something I can’t identify. Please take a look.” He handed it to me.

The moment I examined the small bone, I felt a surge of excitement and joy. In my hand, the incised symbols glowed in my mind’s eye like a beam of the very light I had dreamed of. Two symbols were carved onto it. They were indeed characters, just like those on the bones Zhu Aiping had shown me—an early form of Chinese writing. Analyzing the shapes more closely, they appeared even more standardized and uniform in carving style. The strokes were formed by pairs of oblique cuts to create short lines joined together. Holding this bone, I told Zhang Chunsheng, “This is a prehistoric bone piece. The symbols carved on it should be writing, making it an extremely important artifact.”[3]

A number of relic enthusiasts were present in the gallery that day—people who had brought items for display or auction. Overhearing my words, they gathered around to examine the bone, encircling me in excitement like stars around the moon. They were astonished and pleased. Someone asked me some related questions. Since the crowd effect magnified the event’s impact, that day, it became widely recognized that I had discovered early Chinese writing—bone script.

Gradually, I discovered that similar writing had been unearthed at ancient cultural sites in the Guanzhong (关中) region, northern Jiangsu (江苏), the Zhengzhou (郑州) area in Henan (河南), and the Chifeng (赤峰) area in Inner Mongolia. This broadened my understanding. Previously, I had known from documents that engraved bones had been found in mid-Shang dynasty layers and pits at the Zhengzhou Shang City site, but I had not fully appreciated their significance. In July 2007, Mr. Xiao Guangde (肖广德) from Changle (昌乐) County, Shandong Province, brought me seven engraved bone pieces for identification.[4] In January 2009, Mr. Long Jianxiong (龙建雄) from Xi’an (西安), Shaanxi Province, brought several engraved stone tools and bones for me to identify.[5] In April 2009, a Beijing collector named Cheng Tianlai (程天来) brought me more than a dozen engraved bones, saying that six were from ancient sites in Guanzhong and four from sites in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia.[6] In May 2009, Mr. Yu Wenshui (于文水) from Linzi (临淄), Zibo (淄博) in Shandong, brought me several engraved bones.[7] After careful observation and analysis, I told all four collectors that the carvings on their bones were examples of early Chinese writing.

In July 2007, after identifying Xiao Guangde’s collection, I listed six reasons why these engraved bones should be considered writing:

1. The carvings on these bones are not recent, nor are they natural traces; they were artificially engraved in antiquity.

2. There are many such characters, indicating they served as a record-keeping script.

3. Many of these character-like symbols resemble human figures, animals, or plants—fully supporting the notion that “writing and painting share the same origin.”

4. The layout and structure of these incised symbols show discernible regularities, with clear categories of form. Similar characters often appear repeatedly, and longer inscriptions suggest the emergence of phrasing or rudimentary text.

5. Some symbols indicate a close ancestral link to the oracle bone script and the Yi script (Yiwen), which indicates a lineage.

6. Archaeological excavations over decades in Shandong’s Huantai (桓台), Zhengzhou in Henan, and Zhouyuan (周原) in Shaanxi have unearthed such writing from Yueshi culture (岳石文化) and Shang-Zhou (商周) contexts, providing direct scientific evidence that these early characters existed. Although insufficiently recognized at the time, these excavated finds confirm the early origins of this writing.[8]

Through extensive contact and fieldwork, as my perspective broadened, my data accumulated, and my research deepened, I came to realize that this early writing was created and employed by the Huaxia and Dongyi peoples (华夏族, 东夷族) in the Huai River, Yellow River, and Liao River basins. Calling the finds from elsewhere “early writing,” “Dongyi script,” or “Changle bone script” became unsystematic. A more scientific name was needed. Consulting with numerous experts and professors, all agreed that the most direct, appropriate term would be “bone script” (骨刻文gukewen). “Bone script” literally means “writing incised on bone,” this subject-verb-object construction is grammatically sound and logically clear. On February 24, 2010, China Cultural Relics News (Zhongguo Wenwu Bao) published my short article, “The Past and Future of Publishing the ‘Bone Script Discovery and Research Series,’” in which I explained in detail the reasoning and significance of naming this early writing “bone script.”

2. Scientifically Dating Bone Script

Determining the date of the bone script is crucial. Only by establishing its era scientifically can we form a proper understanding. As early as 2003, when I discovered the bone script in Zhu Aiping’s collection, I realized it was earlier than the oracle bone script. In 2005, with Zhang Chunsheng’s bone script piece, I clearly stated that it dated back to the Longshan culture, making it an early form of Chinese writing. In 2007, after examining Xiao Guangde’s pieces, I outlined six points on-site to infer the age of the bones and their inscriptions, concluding that the script came from the Longshan culture period, roughly 4,000 to 4,500 years ago, belonged to the Dongyi people, and represented an early pictographic writing system in China.[9]

I now have records of over 20,000 pieces of bone script. These come from three main sources:

1. Formally published archaeological excavation materials.

2. Bone script pieces I have personally collected during site surveys.

3. Bone script collected by private enthusiasts.
   When I identify privately collected pieces, I rely on my long experience in archaeology and artifact authentication. Once I confirm they are early Chinese writing, I investigate the provenance more closely, ensuring scientific credibility by cross-referencing collectors’ information and conducting repeated field checks at the related sites.

Since the second half of 2009, I have frequently led my students in targeted surveys of the Shengchengjie (圣城街) site in Shouguang (寿光), Shandong Province. Unfortunately, heavy machinery had severely damaged the site. However, we could still clearly observe ancient cultural layers in the exposed pit walls. On October 26, 2009, we found a piece of bone script (“Shu Gu 60”) in a Late Longshan culture pit, along with egg-shell pottery, ghost-faced pottery feet, polished black ware, and white pottery gui handles typical of the Longshan period. On January 7, 2010, I sent “Shu Gu 60” to the Radiocarbon Laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, for dating (sample no. 1). The result was 3363±24 BP, calibrated to 1690 BC (68.2%), roughly 3,700 years before present.[10] In May 2010, when publishing Bone Script Discovery and Research Series: Shouguang Bone Script (Shuguang Gukewen), I designated it “Shu Gu 60.” Some scholars have recently suggested that the lower limit of Shandong Longshan culture might be around 3,700 or 3,800 years ago. The dating of “Shu Gu 60,” from a Late Longshan cultural pit, directly informs our understanding of the Longshan cultural chronology.

We have three main types of evidence for scientifically estimating the age of bone script:

A. Scientific Testing Data: As discussed, the Radiocarbon Laboratory results for “Shu Gu 60” place it around 3,700 years ago.

B. Archaeologically Excavated Bone Script: Since the 1930s, archaeologists have encountered bone script multiple times during field excavations. In 1930–1931, excavations at Chengziya (城子崖) in Longshan Town, Zhangqiu County, Jinan, uncovered such engraved bones. Many published reports confirm this. For example, in the mid-Shang layers at the Zhengzhou Erligang (二里岗) site excavated in 1953, a carved bovine rib bone was found.[11] In the autumn of 1989, excavations at the Zhengzhou Shang City also unearthed another inscribed bone from a refuse pit [12], and in the summer of 1990, a carved bone was found in a pit at the Zhengzhou Electric Power School mid-Shang site.[13] From 1996 to 1997, joint excavations at the Shijia (史家) site in Huantai by Zibo’s cultural relics bureau uncovered two inscribed bones in a Yueshi culture sacrificial pit.[14] In July 2017, joint excavations by the Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Jilin University’s Border Archaeology Research Center at the Gaojiataizi (高家台子) site in Chifeng uncovered two pieces of bone script and two pieces of pottery with inscriptions from Lower Xiajiadian culture layers.[15] The Erlitou (二里头) site in Yanshi (偃师), Henan, associated with the mid-late Xia dynasty, also yielded inscribed bones. In autumn 1980, a late-phase Erlitou cultural layer produced a rectangular bone piece 9.8 cm long and 3.1 cm wide, engraved with fish-shaped symbols and some additional characters below, though the rubbing is unclear.[16]

Also noteworthy is the discovery in the spring of 1977 at Fengchu (凤雏), Qishan (岐山), Shaanxi Province, near the Western Zhou building remains. Over 17,000 pieces of bone were found in pits 11 and 31 near the west wing of a Western Zhou architectural complex. These are now confirmed as mostly from the late Shang to early Zhou period. Among these bones, some are clearly oracle bone script, while others are not recognized as such and are considered “non-script bones.” After analyzing their strokes, some of these non-oracle symbols match bone script characteristics, indicating that in the early Western Zhou royal capital region, both oracle bone script and bone script coexisted.[17]

Additionally, sites like Longqiu Zhuang (龙虬庄) in Gaoyou (高邮), Jiangsu Province, and Taosi (陶寺) in Shanxi’s Longshan culture strata have yielded inscribed pottery shards and red-inked pottery as well. Many museums, like those in Qinghai Province, Tianshui (天水), and Chifeng, display bone artifacts bearing bone script, often carved on bone knives or awls and exhibited as tools rather than as inscribed texts.

For nearly a century, bone script was not recognized by academia as early Chinese writing. There are two main reasons: first, insufficient material initially hindered proper understanding; second, issues of recognition and responsibility—many assumed the markings were due to worm-boring or root etching, natural rather than man-made. Archaeologists encountered bone script frequently yet often dismissed it. Some never saw worm-bored bones to form a proper comparative concept, mistakenly attributing precious cultural heritage to natural causes. This is a historical lesson.

Influenced by archaeological finds, from the late 20th century onward, collectors in Chifeng and Beijing began to acquire such inscribed bones. By the early 21st century, collectors in Xi’an, Zhengzhou, Anyang (安阳), Cangzhou (沧州), Xuzhou (徐州), and various Shandong cities also joined in. Although their motives varied, these collectors all contributed to preserving the ancient cultural heritage created by our ancestors.

C. Field Survey Data: During surveys of ancient cultural sites, I repeatedly gathered bone script from Longshan cultural pits. On December 25, 2011, accompanied by my graduate students, I found two inscribed limb bones in a Longshan culture pit exposed in the riverbank cliff west of Renjiahe (任家河) site in Changle County. They were found alongside Longshan gray pottery shards. This was, after “Shu Gu 60,” another direct, scientifically meaningful instance of personally collecting bone script from a Longshan period pit.[18]

While investigating sites between Jinan and Weifang (潍坊) in Shandong, I noticed three patterns: first, bone script appears at sites spanning from Dawenkou to Shang-Zhou; second, it is rare in small sites but frequently found at large sites measuring hundreds of thousands of square meters—some identified as walled towns; third, not all large sites contain bone script; only certain 100–200-meter sections of residential areas yield finds.

Based on these sources, we preliminarily conclude that bone script emerged and was widely used around 4,800 to 2,500 years ago. This suggests bone script may have originated and begun in the late Dawenkou culture, flourished during the Longshan culture, and continued into the Yueshi and Shang-Zhou periods. Oracle bone script likely evolved from the bone script in the mid-Shang period, becoming the specialized script for royal religious rituals. Yet bone script did not vanish with the rise of oracle bone script; it likely persisted among common folk into the Western and Eastern Zhou periods. The massive early Western Zhou bone finds at the Zhouyuan site and mid-Western Zhou inscriptions resembling bone script on a pottery he (盉) from Qianheqian (前河前村) in Laiyang (莱阳), Shandong, serve as corroboration.[19]

3. The Form and Layout of Bone Script

A. The Form of Bone Script Characters

From the over 20,000 pieces of bone script I have collected, I estimate about 3,000 distinct characters. Picking up a piece of bone script, one’s first impression might be that these characters are very different from the modern script—uneven in size, curving lines, seemingly disordered. But one is immediately struck by their pictorial quality: some resemble humans, animals, or natural phenomena. For example, “Shu Gu 2” bears two characters that appear to represent legendary figures. In 2009, I interpreted them as “Yao” (尧) and “Shun” (舜).[20][22] Another piece, “Long Gu 2,” has over twenty characters, some resembling multi-branched twigs, others like a radiating sun.[21] Yet these are not direct copies of human or animal figures but creative reimaginings—abstracted, reorganized forms derived from observed objects. Some details are enlarged or reduced, and some lines are reconfigured. This is an early feature of Chinese writing, closely related to artistic thinking akin to painting. Over a long process of development, such conventions likely crystallized into shared aesthetic standards. Although bone script looks very different from modern writing, careful analysis reveals strong regularities and consistent patterns.

Broadly, bone script characters can be divided into three categories:

1. Realistic Figurative Type: These resemble humans and animals. They might record human and animal activities or symbolically represent human thought and relationships with nature. For instance, the two figures on “Shu Gu 2” represent the Yao and Shun meeting.[22]

2. Trunk-and-Branch Type: These feature a main, thicker line from which thinner lines branch off, resembling a tree branch. Such forms resemble those found in modern Yi script (Yiwen) and may connect to the “branch script” theory of Yi script origin. According to Zhang Chunde (张纯德), Yi writing stemmed from ritual specialists (bimo) who carved various shaped twigs as mnemonic devices, gradually abstracting them into written symbols.[23] These trunk-and-branch characters might record numbers and plant species or mark places or seasonal changes. “Lin Gu 2” has a horizontal row of eight such characters with varying complexity, suggesting rich content.[24]

3. Central Circle or Near-Circle Type: This type became more common over time. “Lin Gu 3” has over a hundred characters, mainly of this type, plus some trunk-and-branch forms, indicating perhaps more complex meanings.[25][30] These central-circle characters often feature a round or oval center with lines radiating outward. Some show dense radial lines, possibly representing more complex concepts. Such forms might relate to the origins of writing mentioned in texts like Shuowen Jiezi Xu, which describes Cangjie (仓颉) inventing writing after studying bird and animal tracks. The oval or round center with radiating lines could also represent the sun and its rays, symbolizing timekeeping. If so, these characters may have recorded time divisions.

To further verify my proposed three-part classification of bone script forms, Shandong University’s independent innovation fund supported a project on computer-assisted analysis of bone script led by Professor Pan Rongjiang (潘荣江) of the School of Computer Science and Technology. By using improved Zernike moments to describe character shapes and support vector machines for classification, they achieved good results,[26][27] confirming the validity of my classification standards.

B. The Layout (Zhangfa) of Bone Script

Most bone script pieces bear several characters. Some have around ten, and a few contain dozens. “Lin Gu 5” has about seventy characters, “Lin Gu 3” over a hundred. The layout seems free and natural, like stars scattered across the night sky or pearls strewn on a plate. By modern calligraphic standards, it appears chaotic, but this early stage likely adhered to a looser, more natural aesthetic—an embryonic consensus.

Upon closer examination, three layout patterns emerge: single-character layout, grouped character clusters, and arranged lines.

1. Single-character Layout: Sometimes, a piece has just one large character or multiple characters that are widely spaced, each in its own “zone.” Such instances parallel the single-sign marks on Dawenkou and Shuangdun pottery. However, since those earlier marks predated writing, they were mere symbols. Here, though, writing already existed, and a single character in one script can stand alone meaningfully, like writing “fu” (福) or “shou” (寿) alone today. “Long Gu 26,” for example, features a single center-round character, possibly for timekeeping.[28]

2. Grouped Character Clusters: This is the most common layout. Characters may cluster around a central figure, forming a short text, or line up on a single bone piece to create a short composition. “Shu Gu 60,” circa 3,700 years old, shows six characters, including a central “dragon” (long) figure, flanked by smaller characters—an indicative symbol cluster.[29] “Lin Gu 3,” with over a hundred characters, might represent a longer communiqué—perhaps an edict by Emperor Shun (舜) or a call-to-arms from Chiyou (蚩尤).

Another cluster type combines characters with pictorial symbols—early forms of illustrated texts. “Chang Gu 7” (昌骨7) is a good example, divided into upper and lower parts. The upper includes what appear to be pictographic motifs (dense lines suggesting vegetation, a central round symbol like the sun), while below are five distinct characters, likely explaining the upper imagery, similar to annotated illustrations.[31]

Such character-picture combinations are also found in other early writing systems. In 2013, when the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology was sorting artifacts from the Liangzhu (良渚) culture site at Zhuangqiaofen (庄桥坟) in Pinghu (平湖), Zhejiang, they found incised writing on two stone axes. The front sides bear pictographs; the back sides have a neat line of characters.[32] Likewise, at the Longqiu Zhuang site in Gaoyou, Jiangsu, pottery shards show four pictorial motifs on one side and four characters on the other, possibly a picture-to-text correspondence.[33] Such a textual-visual pairing is a hallmark of the world’s earliest scripts. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sumerian pictographs, Chinese bone script, and early Indus seals all share these compositional strategies.

Comparatively, these four primeval writing systems—Egyptian, Sumerian, Chinese bone script, and Indus—emerged near the 30-degree latitude line and flourished in mid-lower river basins, where cultures advanced rapidly. Sadly, Egyptian and Sumerian scripts, as well as the Indus script, vanished by the 3rd-4th century CE. Only Chinese writing persisted, evolving from bone script to oracle bone script, bronze inscriptions, seal scripts, clerical scripts, and today’s regular script (kaishu), forming the longest continuous textual tradition in human history.

3. Linear Arrangements: Over time, bone script is arranged in lines—either top-to-bottom or horizontally—indicating increasing maturity. While these early lines were not as orderly as modern text, they represent a crucial step toward systematic writing.

“Lin Gu 1,” a pig mandible fragment, bears eight characters likely carved horizontally right-to-left. The main trunk-and-branch type characters are paired one above the other, forming rough horizontal lines.[34] “Lin Gu 2” shows a horizontal line of characters from right to left, with complexity gradually reducing from right to left, reflecting deliberate compositional strategy.[35] “Shu Gu 1” is vertically arranged with six characters in a column, though two are side-by-side at one point.[36]

Such line-based composition implies that bone script already conveyed coherent content. This linear arrangement, though rudimentary, paved the way for oracle bone script’s more orderly lines, mainly top-to-bottom and right-to-left or horizontally left-to-right. Born from the bone script, this practice matured in oracle bone script and ultimately shaped the standard reading directions of Chinese writing.

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Notes:
[1] Liu Fengjun, He Yuan Xiang Ji A: Four Gates Pagoda Buddha Head Repatriation Record (Reportage) (《和缘香积阿——四门塔佛头像回归记（报告文学）》), Shandong Literature and Art Publishing House, Jinan, January 2023.
[2] Qilu Weekly (齐鲁周刊), November 11, 2011: “Among Shandong University’s professors, it’s said that while Jiang Weisong’s (蒋维崧) bronze-inscription calligraphy is delicate, Liu Fengjun’s is grand and bold—like comparing ‘graceful’ and ‘heroic’ styles.”
[3] Liu Fengjun, Bone Script (Gukewen) (《骨刻文》), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, Jinan, May 2015, p. 3.
[4] Liu Fengjun, Changle Bone Script (Changle Gukewen) (《昌乐骨刻文》), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, Jinan, December 2008, pp. 1–3.
[5][6][7] Liu Fengjun, Bone Script Discovery and Research Series: Shouguang Bone Script (Shu Guang Gukewen) (《骨刻文发现与研究丛书·寿光骨刻文》), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, Jinan, 2010, pp. 2–4.
[8] Ibid., Changle Gukewen, p. 2.
[9] Ibid., Changle Gukewen, pp. 3–4.
[10] Shi Wenjing, “This Bone Script Is 3,700 Years Old!” (Qi Lu Evening News 2011/5/15).
[11] Cultural Relics Work Team of Henan Provincial Bureau of Culture: Zhengzhou Erligang (《郑州二里岗》), Science Press, 1959.
[12] Song Dingguo, “A Summary of the 1985–1992 Archaeological Excavations at Zhengzhou Shang City,” in New Archaeological Discoveries and Research on Zhengzhou Shang City 1985–1992, Zhongzhou Ancient Books Press, 1993, pp.48–49.
[13] Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics: “Excavation Report at Zhengzhou Electric Power School,” in New Archaeological Discoveries and Research on Zhengzhou Shang City 1985–1992, Zhongzhou Ancient Books Press, 1993, pp.162–183.
[14] Zibo Cultural Relics Bureau et al., “Excavation of a Yueshi Culture Sacrificial Pit at Shijia Site, Huantai County, Shandong,” Kaogu (Archaeology), No.11, 1997.
[15] Lian Jilin, “Preliminary Study of Ancient Characters Unearthed from Gaojiataizi Site in Chifeng,” Caoyuan Wenwu (Grassland Cultural Relics), No.2, 2019.
[16] Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Erlitou Team: “Brief Report on the 1980 Autumn Excavation at Erlitou Site, Yanshi, Henan,” Kaogu, No.3, 1983; Huang Chengji, “Erlitou Site Also Yields Bone Script,” Toutiao, April 13, 2018.
[17] Cao Wei ed., Zhouyuan Jiaguwen (《周原甲骨文》), World Books Publishing Co., October 2002.
[18] Liu Fengjun, Bone Script (Gukewen), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, Jinan, May 2015, p.20.
[19] Li Buqing, Wu Yunjin, “A Rarely Seen Pottery He Imitation from a Western Zhou Tomb in Lyang (Laiyang), Shandong,” Wenwu (Cultural Relics), No.10, 1987.
[20][22] Liu Fengjun, “Changle Bone Script Reveals a Surprising ‘Meeting of Yao and Shun,’” Qilu Evening News, September 5, 2009.
[21] Liu Fengjun, Bone Script Discovery and Research Series: Longshan Bone Script (Longshan Gukewen), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, Jinan, 2012, pp.22–28.
[23] Zhang Chunde, “Branch Script—A New Exploration into the Origins of Yi Script,” Sixiang Zhanxian (Frontiers of Thought), No.4, 1991.
[24] Liu Fengjun, Bone Script, Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, Jinan, May 2015, p.141.
[25][30] Ibid., pp.142–152.
[26][27] Gao Xinyan, “Shape Analysis of Bone Script Based on Zernike Moments,” Master’s thesis, Shandong University, April 5, 2013, pp.32, 42.
[28] Liu Fengjun, Longshan Bone Script, p.73.
[29] Liu Fengjun, Shouguang Bone Script, pp.112.
[31] Liu Fengjun, Changle Bone Script (series), Shandong Pictorial Publishing House, May 2013, pp.36–38.
[32] Xu Xinmin et al., “Discovery of Primitive Writing of the Liangzhu Culture at Zhuangqiaofen Site, Pinghu,” China Cultural Relics News, June 21, 2013.
[33] Longqiu Zhuang Archaeological Team ed., Longqiu Zhuang—Excavation Report of a Neolithic Site in Eastern Jianghuai, Science Press, 1999.
[34] Liu Fengjun, Bone Script, pp.139–140.
[35] Ibid., p.141.
[36] Liu Fengjun, Shouguang Bone Script, pp.23–24.