A NEW WAY TO CHRONOLOGIZING OF THE ORACLE BONES SCRIPTURE IN THE LATE SHANG DYNASTY BY THE ASTRONOMICAL METHOD——Analyzing the Month's Law in the Yin Dynasty

Using the results of the laws of the calendars being of the moon's age characteristic, this paper tries a new astronomical method to compute and set up the time series of the oracle bones scriptures in the late Shang dynasty. As an example in this period, the accurate dates of the thirteen bones are studied in detail. By analyzing the structure of the month's law in the Yin dynasty, two kinds of the Ganzhi (the heavenly stems and earthly branches, the Chinese ancient date recorded method being of the 60-day cycle) at the beginning of the months are gotten and the dates of some of them can be reckoned then. About the month's law of this calendar, it is induced that 1) the month begins at the third day after the new moon; 2) the length is the synodical month; 3) the first lunar month within one year is stable, which just after the Winter Solstice's; 4) there are two kind of the intercalary methods (at the middle or end of the year).