Yinxu is famous for its oracle bones, which were first discovered in 1899 by Wang Yiron, director of the Imperial College.Director Wang was suffering from malaria at the time and was proscribed Longgu (dragon bones) at a traditional Chinese pharmacy. He noticed strange carvings on these bones and concluded that these could be samples of China’s earliest writing. He sent his assistant in search of the source of these bones and they were finally traced to the small village of Xiaotun just outside of Anyang. In 1917, Wang Guowei deciphered the oracle bone inscriptions of the names of the Shang Kings and constructed a complete Shang genealogy. This perfectly matched that in the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian confirming the historical authenticity of the legendary Shang dynasty and the archaeological importance of Yinxu. The first excavations at Yinxu were lead by Li Chi of the Institute of History and Philosophy from 1928-37. They uncovered the remains of a royal palace, several royal tombs, and more than 100, 000 oracle bones that show the Shang had a well-structured script with a complete system of written signs. Since 1950 ongoing excavations by the Archeological Institute of the Chinese Social Sciences Academy have uncovered evidence of stratification at the Hougang site, remains of palaces and temples, royal cemeteries, oracle bone inscriptions, bronze and bone workshops and the discovery of the Shang city on the north bank of the Huang River. One of the largest and oldest sites of Chinese archaeology, excavations here have laid the foundation for work across the country.
