Editing Oracle bone (section)

==Discovery==
[[File:Wang Yirong.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Wang Yirong]], Chinese politician and scholar, was the first to recognize the oracle bones as ancient writing.]]
Shang-era oracle bones are thought to have been unearthed occasionally by local farmers{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=60}} since as early as the [[Sui dynasty|Sui]] and [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] dynasties, and perhaps starting as early as the [[Han dynasty]].<ref>{{harvnb|Chou|1976|p=1}}, citing Wei Juxian 1939, "Qín-Hàn shi fāxiàn jiǎgǔwén shuō", in Shuōwén Yuè Kān, vol. 1, no.4; and He Tianxing 1940, "Jiǎgǔwén yi xianyu gǔdài shuō", in Xueshu (Shànghǎi), no. 1</ref> In Sui and Tang era [[Anyang]], which was at one time the capital of the Shang dynasty, oracle bones were exhumed during burial ceremonies, though grave diggers did not realize what the bones were and generally reinterred them.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=681}} During the 19th century, villagers in the area who were digging in the fields discovered a number of bones, and used them as [[dragon bones]], following the [[traditional Chinese medicine]] practice of grinding up [[Pleistocene]] fossils into tonics or [[poultice]]s.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=681}}{{sfn|Fairbank|Goldman|2006|p=33}} The turtle shell fragments were prescribed for malaria,{{efn|{{harvnb|Xu|2002|pp=4–5}} cites ''The Compendium of Materia Medica'' and includes a photo of the relevant page and entry.}} while the other animal bones were used in powdered form to treat knife wounds.{{sfn|Xu|2002|p=4}}

In 1899, an antiques dealer from [[Shandong]] who was searching for [[Chinese bronzes]] in the area acquired a number of oracle bones from locals, and later sold several to [[Wang Yirong]], the chancellor of the [[Guozijian|Imperial Academy]] in Beijing.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=681}}  Wang was a knowledgeable collector of Chinese bronzes, and is believed to be the first person in modern times to recognize the oracle bones' markings as ancient Chinese writing similar to that on [[Zhou dynasty]] bronzes.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=681}} A legendary tale relates that Wang was sick with malaria, and his scholar friend [[Liu E (writer)|Liu E]] was visiting him and helped examine his medicine. They discovered that, before being ground into powder, the bones bore strange glyphs which, having studied the ancient [[bronze inscriptions]], they recognized as ancient writing.{{sfn|Xu|2002|p=4}} Xu Yahui states that, "[n]o one can know how many oracle bones, prior to 1899, were ground up by traditional Chinese pharmacies and disappeared into people's stomachs."{{sfn|Xu|2002|p=4}}

It is not known how Wang and Liu actually came across these specimens, but Wang is credited with being the first to recognize their significance.{{sfn|Xu|2002|p=4}} During the [[Boxer Rebellion]], Wang reluctantly accepted a defense command, and killed himself in 1900 when allied troops entered Beijing. His son later sold the bones to Liu, who published the first book of rubbings of the oracle bone inscriptions in 1903.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|pp=681–682}}{{sfn|Xu|2002|p=16}} As news of the oracle bones' discovery spread throughout China and among foreign collectors and scholars the market for the bones exploded, though many collectors sought to keep the location of the bones' source a secret.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=682}}  Although scholars tried to find their source, antique dealers falsely claimed that the bones came from [[Tangyin]] in Henan.{{sfn|Xu|2002|p=4}} In 1908, scholar [[Luo Zhenyu]] discovered the source of the bones near Anyang and realized that the area was the site of the last Shang dynasty capital.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=682}}

Decades of uncontrolled digs followed to fuel the antiques trade,{{efn|{{harvnb|Xu|2002|p=6}} cites eight waves of illegal digs over three decades, with tens of thousands of pieces taken.}} and many of these pieces eventually entered collections in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Japan.{{sfn|Chou|1976|p=1}} The first Western collector was the American missionary Frank H. Chalfant (1862–1914).{{efn|Rev. Chalfant acquired 803 oracle bone pieces between 1903 and 1908, and hand-traced over 2500 pieces including these.{{sfn|Chou|1976|pp=1–2}}}} Chalfant called the script "inscriptions upon bone and tortoise shell" in his 1906 book ''Early Chinese Writing''. The Chinese equivalent {{tlit|zh|jiǎgǔwén}} {{lang|zh|甲骨⽂}} appeared in the following decades.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2013|p=681}}

Only a small number of dealers and collectors knew the location of the source of the oracle bones until they were found by Canadian missionary [[James Mellon Menzies]], the first person to scientifically excavate, study, and decipher them. He was the first to conclude that the bones were records of divination from the Shang dynasty, and was the first to come up with a method of dating them (in order to avoid being fooled by fakes). In 1917 he published the first scientific study of the bones, including 2,369 drawings and inscriptions and thousands of ink rubbings. Through the donation of local people and his own archaeological excavations, he acquired the largest private collection in the world, over 35,000 pieces. He insisted that his collection remain in China, though some were sent to Canada by colleagues who were worried that they would be either destroyed or stolen during the [[Japanese invasion of China]] in 1937.{{sfn|York|2008}} The Chinese still acknowledge the pioneering contribution of Menzies as "the foremost western scholar of Yin-Shang culture and oracle bone inscriptions"{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}. His former residence in Anyang was declared a "Protected Treasure" in 2004, and the James Mellon Menzies Memorial Museum for Oracle Bone Studies was established.{{sfn|York|2008}}<ref>Wang Haiping (2006). "Menzies and Yin-Shang Culture Scholarship – An Unbreakable Bond". ''Anyang Ribao'' [Anyang Daily], August 12, 2006, p.1</ref><ref>See Linfu Dong (2005). ''Cross Culture and Faith: the Life and Work of James Mellon Menzies''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8020-3869-2}}.</ref>