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Since the second half of the 20th century, inscriptions have been found on pottery in a variety of locations in China, such as Banpo near Xi'an, as well as on bone and bone marrows at Hualouzi, Chang'an County near Xi'an. These simple, often geometric, marks have been frequently compared to some of the earliest known Chinese characters appearing on the oracle bones, and some have taken them to mean that the history of Chinese writing extends back over six millennia. However, only isolated instances of these symbols have been found, and they show no indication of representing speech or of the non-pictorial processes that a writing system requires. ==Nature of the symbols== At a range of Neolithic sites in China, small numbers of symbols of either pictorial or simple geometric nature have been unearthed which were incised into or drawn or painted on artifacts, mostly on pottery but in some instances on turtle shells, animal bones or artifacts made from bone or jade.〔Qiu 2000, p.30〕 These sites include those pertaining to the cultures of Yangshao, Liangzhu, Majiayao and Longshan.〔 The question of whether such symbols are writing, primitive or proto-writing, or merely non-writing symbols or signs for other purposes such as identification is a highly controversial one, and the debate still continues today. Proponents of the view that they are early Chinese writing tend to see evidence in comparisons of individual signs with individual oracle bone script characters. Others believe that Neolithic signs are part of an incipient semiotic system that eventually led to the development of mature Chinese writing.〔Dematté 2010.〕 William G. Boltz of the University of Washington's Department of Asian Languages and Literature points out that such comparisons are "notoriously risky and inconclusive" when based on such primitive scratch marks rather than on similarity in ''function'' (2003, p. 38). Boltz adds: In general, the Neolithic symbols which have been unearthed to date are found in isolated use (as would be expected with ownership marks or clan symbols) rather than in sequences consistent with representation of the spoken language, and there is no evidence of processes fundamental to the beginnings of a true, useful writing system such as phonetic loan usage.〔Wāng 1981, p.42〕 As Qiu (2000, p. 39) explains: Only when symbols...are consciously used to record words used to form sentences is there a true sign that the development of script has begun. Furthermore, the evidence is still extremely scanty, even when the early Shang period evidence is added to the picture: It is still safe to conclude that the earliest known ''undisputed'' examples of true writing in China (that is, symbols used to fully record language rather than isolated meanings) are the oracle bones of the late Shang dynasty, c. 1200 BCE.〔Boltz 2003, p.31〕〔Qiú Xīguī (裘錫圭) 2000, p.11.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Neolithic signs in China」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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