No. 7
硃書龜腹甲 (《乙編》6422, 6423, R044802)
Tortoise plastron with vermillion text (Part2(《乙編》) ?6422, 6423, R044802)
出土時間:1936年小屯第13次發掘
Excavation date: 1936, 13th Xiaotun excavation
出土地點:河南省安陽縣小屯
Place of excavation: Xiaotun, Anyang County, Henan Province
拓片長 16.9公分,寬9.65公分
Rubbing dimensions: length 16.9 cm, width 9.65 cm
中央研究院歷史語言研究所1936年殷虛第13次發掘所得,屬於第一期武丁時代。甲骨上清楚可見「記兆序數」,也就是說商代人在占卜時,一件事情可能會重覆占卜好幾次,為了說明一個卜兆是屬於第幾次占卜的結果,所以在卜兆的右上角或左上角,刻上一、二、三、四…等等的數字。龜腹甲背面甲橋有「雀入二百五十」一行字,即所謂「甲橋刻辭」。本版甲橋刻辭刻後又塗硃。中間有兩行用毛筆寫而未刻的文字,呈暗紅色。
Obtained in the Institute of History and Philology's 13th Xiaotun excavation in 1936, it belongs to period 1, the age of Wu Ding. Upon the shell can clearly be seen the number preceding each divination record. When people of the Shang dynasty divined, a single matter might be repeatedly divined about quite a few times, and in order to clearly distinguish which divination charge was the result of which time the question was divined, in the upper right corner or upper left corner of the divination charge itself would be inscribed a number 1, 2, 3, 4... and so on.
On the back of this tortoise plastron, the bridge of the shell is inscribed the line of characters "Que sent in 250 (tortoise shells)," a so-called "shell-bridge inscription." After carving this particular shell-bridge inscription, it was smeared with vermillion paste. In the middle of the shell there are two lines of characters written with a brush but left uncarved, appearing as dark red.