Social Sciences in China, 2024

Vol. 45 , No. 4, 2024

 

The Proto-Literate Characters, Symbols and Ritual Civilization of Erlitou Culture

(Abstract)

 

Yuan Guangkuo

 

In recent years, a certain number of proto-literate symbols with pictographic features have been excavated at the sites of Erlitou, Yanshi County, and Nanzhai, Yichuan County, in Luoyang, Henan Province. Morphologically speaking, these are comparable with the inscriptions on Shang bronzes. At the same time, full sets of pottery and bronze ritual vessels indicate that it was during the Erlitou period that the early Chinese ritual system achieved completion. Some late Shang bronze inscriptions have pictographic script showing ritual-type artifacts; structurally, most of these differ from their contemporaries, but are stylistically close to their counterparts in the earlier Erlitou culture. The forms of the characters may be traceable back to their creation during the Erlitou culture. The independent gestation of this group of early characters is the product of ancient Chinese civilization; their discovery and interpretation bear witness to the close relationship between the ritual artifacts of the Huaxia culture and the early script, reflecting the transmission of the ritual system as the heart of ancient Chinese civilization.

 

Keywords: Erlitou culture, symbols, writing, ritual vessels