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3.

oracle bones, natural and half finished shells have been found specially abundant.  Most of the finished pieces assume some geometrical shape, which, when pieced together in their original state had no doubt some definite meaning; but there is no clue to reconstruct them as yet(Plate ^[[XXVII]]:1-9).

Some of these shells works might have been used as pendants, or amulets.  Fish seems to be the only shape it takes.   This is natural enough, signifying that the material itself come from water (^[[XXVII 10-17,10 carved of bone, the rest being all shells).

Bronze works.

Up to the close of the season in 1929, the bronze works consist of essentially arrow-heads and simple tools.  Only fragments of large pieces were found, but so far as decorative motifs on the bronzes are concerned, the discovery of a large horde of bronze moulds is of great help.

The moulds, however, are not of uniform value, most of them are either fragmentary or completely worn out.  Only rarely were found pieces that help to give some definite idea about their impressions on the bronzes ^[[(XXVII:1-6)]].  The illustrations shown in Plate ^[[XXVIII]] are good examples of the ornamentary style of Shang bronzes.  Both conventionalized animal motifs and geometrical filling-in are highly characteristic.  Such motifs are of course frequently found in many of the illustrated catalogues on ancient Chinese bronzes; the chief value of this discovery lies with the comparative certainty of their dating.

One piece of bronze that has won the admiration of many examiners, is a decorative pieces in the form of a scallop ^[[(XXIX:1-2)]] with three nails inside.  It is so modern in its moulding that one often wanders whether it [[strikethrough]] single [[/strikethrough]] ^[[might]] have been used by the shell oil company ^[[!!]]