# Most unread graphs are names without descendants

> Still possible: Most unread graphs are proper names of people, places, clans and spirits that left no descendant, so they can be identified as names but…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/answers/ANS0DEDS19358ER/most-unread-graphs-are-names-without-descendants  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Questions](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions)[Unread oracle bone characters](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered)[What are the roughly 3,000 unread oracle-bone graphs, and how many of them can ever be read?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/questions/QST0DEDQEESA0GT/what-are-the-roughly-3-000-unread-oracle-bone-graphs-and-how)Answer

Answer · Unread oracle bone characters

# Most unread graphs are names without descendants

Most unread graphs are proper names of people, places, clans and spirits that left no descendant, so they can be identified as names but never read as words.

**Still possible** Answers **1** question0

## Where it stands

**Still possible** Two pieces of evidence for, none against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

## What it predicts

- A slot-by-slot classification of unread graphs in the CHANT transcriptions will place the large majority only in name positions.
- Unread graphs will be rarer per graph and more concentrated in one period or diviner group than read graphs.
- The bounty's rate of accepted readings will stay at a few per decade.

## What would rule it out

- A slot classification finds that half or more of unread graphs occur in verb, object or modifier positions.
- A sustained rise in accepted readings from form-chain or computational methods.

## Evidence 2 for · none against

[A 2026 survey reports 2,112 of 3,763 catalogued graphs unread and states that most are proper nouns such as personal…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/evidence/EVD0DEDTF0NZRNA/a-2026-survey-reports-2-112-of-3-763-catalogued-graphs)

Suggestive

FOR

[Three accepted readings in nine years of a 100,000 yuan bounty show that the remaining graphs resist the form-chain…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/evidence/EVD0DEDTFGAHS19/three-accepted-readings-in-nine-years-of-a-100-000-yuan)

Suggestive

FOR

## The questions it answers

[What are the roughly 3,000 unread oracle-bone graphs, and how many of them can ever be read?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/questions/QST0DEDQEESA0GT/what-are-the-roughly-3-000-unread-oracle-bone-graphs-and-how)

Open6 answers, none ahead

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Most unread graphs are names without descendants [Answer ANS0DEDS19358ER]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DEDS19358ER
```

Key

**ANS** 0DEDS19358ER

Kind

Answer · hypothesis

Proposed

[Session 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/oracle-bone-undeciphered/sessions/SES0DEDVWXKJN4C/session-1-the-unread-oracle-bone-characters-seeded-corpus) · 31 Oct 2026

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