Regardless, ink has quite a history. Paintings in a variety of colors appear on Neolithic pottery. Shang dynasty oracle bones are inscribed with characters both red and black. Even the ink used to write upon Warring States Period bamboo slats, uncovered in Changsha, Hunan Province, remains unfaded.
墨的起源有多種說法：上古時代有田真造墨，周宣王時有邢夷造墨；新石器時期的彩陶上有多種顏色的圖畫；殷墟甲骨文上則有朱書、墨書；湖南長沙出土的戰國竹簡上，文字墨色至今漆黑。