Jiahu symbols
The Jiahu symbols (simplified Chinese: 贾湖契刻符号; traditional Chinese: 賈湖契刻符號; pinyin: Jiǎhú qìkè fúhào) consist of 16 distinct markings on prehistoric artifacts found in Jiahu, a neolithic Peiligang culture site found in Henan, China, and excavated in 1999. The Jiahu symbols are dated to around 6000 BC.[1] 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.[2] 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."[3] 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 (c. 1200 BC).[4]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Underhill, Anne P. (2013). A Companion to Chinese Archaeology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 248. ISBN 978-1-118-32578-0.
- ^ Rincon, Paul (17 April 2003). "'Earliest writing' found in China". BBC News.
- ^ Li, X; 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.
- ^ Boltz, William G. (2003) [1994]. The Origin and Early Development of the Chinese Writing System. American Oriental Series. 78. New Haven, Connecticut, USA: American Oriental Society. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-940490-18-5.
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