Chinese archeologists have unearthed an oracle bone inscribed with 20 characters in the northwestern province of Shaanxi.

The bone, an ox bladebone from the early stages of the Western Zhou Dynasty, about 2,000 ago, was found in Fengming town, Qishan county, said a source with the county's museum.

The bone was 14 centimeters long and 3.2 centimeters wide in the broadest part and had seven round holes on one side, said Xu Yongwei, deputy curator of the museum.

Though part of the bone had decayed over the years, its inscriptions had remained legible, Xu said.

"The bone was extremely valuable because few items from the remote Western Zhou Dynasty have survived to this day," he added.

Experts have begun deciphering the inscriptions. They believe the research on the newly found oracle bone may throw light on the culture of the Zhou Dynasty.

Inscribed animal bones and tortoise shells were first used for divination by kings of the Shang Dynasty (16th Century BC -- 11th Century BC).

Inscriptions on these bones, one of the oldest forms of writing in the world, resemble the cuneiform writing of the ancient Near East and hieroglyphic writing of ancient Egypt, experts say.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2004)