Oracle bone inscriptions (jiǎ gǔ wén 甲骨文), the earliest Chinese writing scripts, are the ancient Chinese characters carved on tortoise shells and animal scapulas. The oracle bone inscriptions were mainly used for divination and keeping records of events happened in the late Shang Dynasty  (shāng cháo 商朝, 1300 BC - 1046 BC). The bones are invaluable for us to understand the Shang Dynasty.

Oracle bone inscriptions were first discovered in the autumn of 1899. They came to light in Yinxu (yīn xū 殷墟), near Xiaotun (xiǎo tún 小屯) village, Anyang  City (ān yáng shì 安阳市), Henan  Province (hé nán shěng 河南省). This was the site of the capital city of the Yin Dynasty (yīn dài 殷代), which is the name given to the later period of the Shang Dynasty.

The inscriptions were mainly used for divination during the Shang Dynasty. The rulers of the Shang Dynasty were very superstitious so divination was basically a daily activity for almost everything, such as weather, health, farming and fortune. The bones not only were used in divination as a tool, but also in recording the activities and results on them. Among the rich contents there are of pedigree of kings, local kingdoms, warfare, religious belief, agriculture, meteorological, phenomena, construction and diseases of the Shang society. The oracle bone inscriptions are the earliest written records discovered in China.

Oracle bone inscriptions are regarded as the primary form of modern Chinese characters. They are the oldest mature characters that exists in China. From the oracle bone inscriptions that found in Yinxu, it can been seen that the Chinese characters had been an integrated system. There are more than 4000 characters in the oracle bone inscriptions that found in Yinxu. They are much different from the characters that we used today in shape, but are similar in character formation.

As the earliest and most precious culture relic, oracle bone inscriptions recorded the information of 3000 years ago about Chinese social politics, economics, culture and so on. Oracle bone inscription has been the most important direct historical materials for us to study on Chinese ancient history, especially the Shang Dynasty history, and has become the worldwide knowledge.

甲骨文
      甲骨文主要指殷墟甲骨文，又称为契文、龟甲文或龟甲兽骨文。是殷商时代刻在龟甲兽骨上的文字。殷墟是著名的殷商时代遗址，范围包括河南省安阳市西北小屯村、花园庄、侯家庄等地。这里曾经是殷商后期中央王朝都城的所在地，所以称为殷墟。这些甲骨基本上都是商王朝统治者的占卜纪录。商代统治者非常迷信，例如十天之内会不会有灾祸，天会不会下雨，农作物是不是有好收成，打仗能不能胜利，应该对哪些鬼神进行哪些祭祀，以至于生育、疾病、做梦等等事情都要进行占卜，以了解鬼神的意志和事情的吉凶。占卜所用的材料主要是乌龟的腹甲、背甲和牛的肩胛骨。通常先在准备用来占卜的甲骨的背面挖出或钻出一些小坑，这种小坑甲骨学家称之为“钻凿”。占卜的时候就在这些小坑上加热是甲骨表面产生裂痕。这种裂痕叫做“兆”。甲骨文里占卜的“卜”字，就像兆的样子。从事占卜的人就根据卜兆的各种形状来判断吉凶。

      殷商灭亡周朝兴起之后，甲骨文还延绵使用了一段时期。它是中国已发现的古代文字中体系较为完整的文字。甲骨文于1898年为古董商、金石学家所识别，之后在殷墟(河南安阳小屯村)大规模挖掘，有大量的龟甲兽骨出土，加上别地的零星采集，至今已收集十几万片，其中单篇文章最长者达百余字，可以看出应用文雏形。

      甲骨文被认为是现代汉字的早期形式，有时候也被认为是汉字的书体之一，也是现存中国最古老的一种成熟文字。甲骨文是一种很重要的古汉字资料。绝大部分甲骨文发现于殷墟。从殷商的甲骨文看来，当时的汉字已经发展成为完整的汉语文字体系了。在已发现的殷墟甲骨文里，出现的单字数量已达4000左右。其中既有大量指事字、象形字、会意字，也有很多形声字。这些文字和我们现在使用的文字，在外形上有巨大的区别。但是从构字方法来看，二者基本上是一致的。

      甲骨文献的内容涉及当时天文、历法、气象、地理、方国、世系、家族、人物、职官、征伐、刑狱、农业、畜牧、田猎、交通、宗教、祭祀、疾病、生育、灾祸等，是研究中国古代特别是商代社会历史、文化、语言文字的极其珍贵的第一手资料。