An open dataset for the evolution of oracle bone characters: EVOBC

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Guan, Haisu, Wan, Jinpeng, Liu, Yuliang, Wang, Pengjie, Zhang, Kaile, Kuang, Zhebin, Wang, Xinyu, Bai, Xiang, Jin, Lianwen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Guan, Haisu
Wan, Jinpeng
Liu, Yuliang
Wang, Pengjie
Zhang, Kaile
Kuang, Zhebin
Wang, Xinyu
Bai, Xiang
Jin, Lianwen
author_facet Guan, Haisu
Wan, Jinpeng
Liu, Yuliang
Wang, Pengjie
Zhang, Kaile
Kuang, Zhebin
Wang, Xinyu
Bai, Xiang
Jin, Lianwen
contents The earliest extant Chinese characters originate from oracle bone inscriptions, which are closely related to other East Asian languages. These inscriptions hold immense value for anthropology and archaeology. However, deciphering oracle bone script remains a formidable challenge, with only approximately 1,600 of the over 4,500 extant characters elucidated to date. Further scholarly investigation is required to comprehensively understand this ancient writing system. Artificial Intelligence technology is a promising avenue for deciphering oracle bone characters, particularly concerning their evolution. However, one of the challenges is the lack of datasets mapping the evolution of these characters over time. In this study, we systematically collected ancient characters from authoritative texts and websites spanning six historical stages: Oracle Bone Characters - OBC (15th century B.C.), Bronze Inscriptions - BI (13th to 221 B.C.), Seal Script - SS (11th to 8th centuries B.C.), Spring and Autumn period Characters - SAC (770 to 476 B.C.), Warring States period Characters - WSC (475 B.C. to 221 B.C.), and Clerical Script - CS (221 B.C. to 220 A.D.). Subsequently, we constructed an extensive dataset, namely EVolution Oracle Bone Characters (EVOBC), consisting of 229,170 images representing 13,714 distinct character categories. We conducted validation and simulated deciphering on the constructed dataset, and the results demonstrate its high efficacy in aiding the study of oracle bone script. This openly accessible dataset aims to digitalize ancient Chinese scripts across multiple eras, facilitating the decipherment of oracle bone script by examining the evolution of glyph forms.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_12467
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An open dataset for the evolution of oracle bone characters: EVOBC
Guan, Haisu
Wan, Jinpeng
Liu, Yuliang
Wang, Pengjie
Zhang, Kaile
Kuang, Zhebin
Wang, Xinyu
Bai, Xiang
Jin, Lianwen
Artificial Intelligence
The earliest extant Chinese characters originate from oracle bone inscriptions, which are closely related to other East Asian languages. These inscriptions hold immense value for anthropology and archaeology. However, deciphering oracle bone script remains a formidable challenge, with only approximately 1,600 of the over 4,500 extant characters elucidated to date. Further scholarly investigation is required to comprehensively understand this ancient writing system. Artificial Intelligence technology is a promising avenue for deciphering oracle bone characters, particularly concerning their evolution. However, one of the challenges is the lack of datasets mapping the evolution of these characters over time. In this study, we systematically collected ancient characters from authoritative texts and websites spanning six historical stages: Oracle Bone Characters - OBC (15th century B.C.), Bronze Inscriptions - BI (13th to 221 B.C.), Seal Script - SS (11th to 8th centuries B.C.), Spring and Autumn period Characters - SAC (770 to 476 B.C.), Warring States period Characters - WSC (475 B.C. to 221 B.C.), and Clerical Script - CS (221 B.C. to 220 A.D.). Subsequently, we constructed an extensive dataset, namely EVolution Oracle Bone Characters (EVOBC), consisting of 229,170 images representing 13,714 distinct character categories. We conducted validation and simulated deciphering on the constructed dataset, and the results demonstrate its high efficacy in aiding the study of oracle bone script. This openly accessible dataset aims to digitalize ancient Chinese scripts across multiple eras, facilitating the decipherment of oracle bone script by examining the evolution of glyph forms.
title An open dataset for the evolution of oracle bone characters: EVOBC
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.12467