Name: Inscribed Deer Skull

Field reg. no.: 4.946

Collection reg. no.: R041038 (jia 3940)

Height: 22.7 cm

Weight: 310.05 g

Material(s): deer skull

Place of origin: Pit E10, Hsiao-t’un, Yinxu, Anyang, Henan Province

Age: More than 3,300 years

Date of excavation: Apr. 8, 1931

Unearthed by: Wang Xiang (1912–2010)

Designated as National Treasure: Apr. 2, 2008

Official designation doc. no.: Authorized by the BOCH no. 0972102147

Featured on postage stamp: “Ancient Chinese Artifacts Postage Stamps: The Ruins of Yin” (Dec. 10, 2014)

Exhibitions:

1937   The Second National Fine Arts Exhibition, Ministry of Education (Apr. 01–23, 1937)

1941   Academia Sinica 13th Anniversary Exhibition and Ceremony, Lizhunag, Sichuan (Jun. 09, 1941)

1998   Trésors du Musée national du Palais, Taipei: Mémoire d’Empire, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris (Oct. 20, 1998–Jan. 25, 1999)

2002   MIHP Reopening Exhibition after Renovation (2002–2006)

2007   Oracle Bones Permanent Exhibition, MIHP (2007–2009)

2014   Our Superstars: Special Exhibition of Oracle Bones (Dec. 10, 2014–Oct. 11, 2017)

2014   Yinxu Artifacts on Stamps (Dec. 10, 2014–Jul. 01, 2015)

2017   Forecast Through Divination (Oct. 22, 2017–Apr. 28, 2020)

2026   Approaching National Treasures (Jul. 25, 2026–Feb. 3, 2027)

“The inscribed deer skull was unearthed beside a whale scapula, with the lower jawbone of a giant elephant between them, while the ox scapulae used for divination were piled atop the whale bone. By examining the excavation photograph, one may understand the relationships among these objects and interpret them accordingly. The whale scapula was undoubtedly obtained from the seashore and may be regarded as an unusual trophy brought back from the campaign against Ren Fang. The elephant jawbone may perhaps commemorate the achievement of “subjugating the Eastern Barbarians,” for the elephant may have perished during the campaign and was therefore preserved as a memorial. This is not mere conjecture; since these objects were all found in the same pit, they can hardly be considered entirely unrelated.” (Tung Tso-pin, “The Studies on Periodization of Oracle Bone Inscriptions,” p. 369)

Since the discovery of oracle bone inscriptions in 1899, they immediately attracted scholarly attention, and scholars began to collect and study them. Large-scale scientific excavations, however, did not begin until 1928, when the IHP initiated archaeological work at the Yinxu (Ruins of Yin) in Anyang, Henan. Over ten years and fifteen seasons of excavations, the IHP recovered more than 25,000 pieces of oracle bones. In addition to the remarkable quantity, the collection also contains the largest number of outstanding pieces among all institutions housing Yinxu oracle bones worldwide.

In July 1928, during the early preparatory stages of the IHP, Fu Ssu-nien (1896–1950) sent Tung Tso-pin (1895–1963) to Yinxu to investigate the circumstances under which oracle bones were being excavated. He found that “oracle bones at Yinxu had by no means fully unearthed.” During the fourth excavation season, on April 8, 1931, the archaeological team discovered this world-renowned Inscribed Deer Skull in Pit E10 at Hsiao-t’un (Xiaotun), at a depth of 1.5 meters. The excavation marked a breakthrough in both the team scale and excavation methods. The area north of Hsiao-t’un was divided into five zones: A, B, C, D, and E. Personnel working in zone E included Tung Tso-pin, Wu Chin-ting (1901–1948), Xu Jingcan (1902–1984), and Wang Xiang (1912–2010). Excavation of Pit E10 was carried out by Wang Xiang: “At a depth of two meters below the surface, this pit yielded a large quantity of animal bones, including a tiger skull, an elephant lower jawbone, a whale scapula, an inscribed deer skull, ox bones, and sawn deer antlers.” The Inscribed Deer Skull unearthed from the pit is particularly precious for its clear inscription and intact antlers, and was one of the major discoveries of the excavation. It was designated as a National Treasure under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act on April 2, 2008.

Oracle bone inscriptions are primarily “divination texts” carved on tortoise shells or other animal bones, while a small number are “records of events”. Some event-recording inscriptions have been inscribed on skulls and are mostly related to ritual activities. The IHP houses two inscribed deer skulls and one inscribed bovid skull, all recording the use of animals captured in hunts as offerings to ancestors.

Notably, the two inscribed deer skulls unearthed by the IHP are the only such examples discovered archaeologically to date. They share the same calligraphy style and were unearthed during the third and fourth excavations at Yinxu, respectively. Inscribed Deer Skull jia 3940 (fourth excavation, 1931) is more intact than jia 3941 (third excavation, 1929), as the former still largely retains its antlers. This National Treasure” bears three lines of oracle bone script, twelve characters of which remain extant: “On the day Wuxu, the King hunted at Hao (outskirts), and the game was offered during the libation to Wen Wu Ding upon his return from a campaign.” Here the campaign refers to Shang king’s expedition against a regional polity, and the offering records the use of hunted game in a libation offering as part of an ancestral sacrifice to Wen Wu Ding. Pit E10, from which the inscribed deer skull was discovered, presents another notable feature. A large number of animal bones was found in the pit, including whale, tiger, ox, elephant, and deer remains. In “Jiaguwen Duandai Yanjiu Li” (“The Studies on Periodization of Oracle Bone Inscriptions”), Tung Tso-pin argued, based on the depositional context of these animal bones, that they were related to King Zhou (Di Xin) of Shang’s campaign against the coastal Ren Fang of “Eastern Barbarians.”

In April 1937, the Inscribed Deer Skull was publicly displayed for the first time at the “Second National Fine Art Exhibition” held by the Ministry of Education. Liang Ssu-yong (1904–1954) was responsible for the overall planning of the Yinxu artifacts display, while Tung Tso-pin personally selected more than thirty oracle bones, including the inscribed deer and ox skulls, in the “Written Documents and Inscriptions” section. As the war intensified, the IHP relocated to Lizhuang, Sichuan. On June 9, 1941, to celebrate the thirteenth anniversary of Academia Sinica, the IHP organized an exhibition to showcase its research findings to local residents. From surviving photographs left by Shih Chang-ju (1902–2004), the Inscribed Deer Skull continued to attract attention despite the modest exhibition setting in Lizhuang.

In 1998, four artifacts from Yinxu, including the Inscribed Deer Skull, were traveled to France to be featured in the “Mémoire d’Empire” special exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. After the MIHP reopened in 2002 following renovations, the artifact became one of the museum’s signature exhibits, taking center stage in the 2014 “Our Superstars” exhibition and the 2017 “Forecast Through Divination” exhibition. In 2014, Chunghwa Post selected eight artifacts from Yinxu, one of which was the Inscribed Deer Skull, for the “Ancient Chinese Artifacts Postage Stamps: The Ruins of Yin” series. To mark the occasion, the MIHP organized the “Yinxu Artifacts on Stamps” exhibition. The edition of Approaching National Treasures features the Inscribed Deer Skull, returning to public display after six years and offering visitors an opportunity to encounter this unique archaeological National Treasure once again.

李濟，〈安陽最近發掘報告及六次工作之總估計〉，《安陽發掘報告》4（1933）：559-578。

董作賓，〈甲骨文斷代研究例〉，《國立中央研究院歷史語言研究所集刊外編 蔡元培先生六十五歲慶祝論文集》上冊，1933，頁323-424。

石璋如，《小屯第一本‧遺址的發現與發掘‧丁編‧甲骨坑層之一：一次至九次出土甲骨》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，1985，頁112；圖版伍：1。

董作賓，《小屯第二本‧殷虛文字甲編》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，1948，圖版3940。

屈萬里，《小屯第二本‧殷虛文字甲編考釋》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，1961，頁498。

杜正勝主編，《來自碧落與黃泉：中央研究院歷史語言研究所文物精選錄》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，1998，圖版37，頁49。

史語所展品圖錄製作小組編輯製作，《來自碧落與黃泉：中央研究院歷史語言研究所歷史文物陳列館展品圖錄》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，2002，圖版63，頁68-69。

李永迪編，《殷墟出土器物選粹》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，2017，圖版241，頁252。

Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Trésors du Musée national du Palais, Taipei: Mémoire d'Empire. Paris: AFAA : Reunion des musees nationaux : Diffusion, Seui, 1998, p.79.

李瑞振，〈甲骨全形：殷商鹿頭骨刻辭綜考〉，西泠印社編，《第六屆「孤山証印」西泠印社國際印學峰會論文集》，杭州：西泠印社出版社，2020，頁761-778。

李學勤，〈釋「郊」〉，《綴古集》，上海：上海古籍出版社，1998，頁189-194。原刊於《文史》36（1992），頁7-10。

梁思永，〈殷墟發掘展覽目錄〉，中國科學院考古研究所編，《梁思永考古論文集》，北京：科學出版社，1959，頁153-162。

陳存恭、陳仲玉、任育德訪問，任育德紀錄，《石璋如先生訪問紀錄》，臺北：中央研究院近代史研究所，2002。

石璋如，《國立中央研究院歷史語言研究所考古年表》，楊梅：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，1952。

石璋如著，李永迪、馮忠美、丁瑞茂編校，《殷虛發掘員工傳》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，2017。

石璋如遺稿，李匡悌、馮忠美輯補，《安陽發掘簡史》，臺北：中央研究院歷史語言研究所，2019。

《殷墟文物郵票專冊》，臺北：中華郵政股份有限公司，2014。

The Inscribed Deer Skull frequently appears in catalogues and postcards published by the Museum of IHP (MIHP), The museum has also developed National Treasure-themed merchandise, including the hand-illustrated watercolor National Treasures Notebook series as well as the educational Oracle Bone Jigsaw Puzzle.