Chinese ancestors’ mystery -the Oracle Bone Inscriptions

Oracle bone	Oracle bone

Oracle bone inscriptions (or Jia Gu Wen in Chinese Pinyin), 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 (1300 BC - 1046 BC). The bones are invaluable for us to understand 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. The inscriptions were classified into four categories in the book 'Jiaguwen Heji,' i.e., classes and country, society and production, cultures, and other. The Oracle Bone Inscriptions are the earliest written records discovered in China.
The question that who firstly find the Oracle Bone Inscriptions and judge it is the relic of Shang Dynasty is still in disputing. Most of scholars believe it is Wang Yirong who found the Oracle bone inscriptions in 1899 according to story. But dissidents post different opinions on it. Some say Liu Er, the author of Lao Can You Ji , discovered Oracle Bone Inscriptions at the same time with Wang Yirong. Some even say a farmer found it before 1988, at Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan.
The characters on these tortoise shells and animal scapulas are carved by whom and are carved with what kind of tools remain mysteries.