Chinese research team finishes preservation of hundreds of oracle bone inscriptions

2025-08-11 08:10:03

(MENAFN) Reports say a research team from Henan Province in central China has completed high-definition digital preservation of 542 oracle bone inscriptions kept in European collections, marking an important step toward safeguarding these artifacts in their place of origin.

The work was carried out by the oracle bone script information processing laboratory at Anyang Normal University, located in Anyang—historically recognized as the birthplace of oracle bones.

Of the preserved pieces, 485 are held by a museum in Berlin, Germany, while the rest are kept at various institutions in France.

According to Liu Yongge, the head of the laboratory, the team is now processing the collected data to produce detailed digital models, which will be made accessible worldwide through an AI-based research platform. He added that the lab is also in talks with institutions in Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium to expand the project and digitize more oracle bone inscriptions.

Oracle bone script, known as Jiaguwen, is an ancient Chinese writing system inscribed on tortoise shells or animal bones. It is considered the earliest complete form of Chinese writing, featuring the oldest fully developed characters discovered in the country.

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