To date, estimates mainland scholar Hu Houxuan, some 150,000 oracle bones have been discovered. More than 4000 recognizable different character forms have been found on them, but there are less than 2000 for which scholars agree on a meaning.
根據大陸學者胡厚宣，目前出土的甲骨片總數大概在十五萬片左右，可以辨認字型的約有四千多字，得到學者共識的則不到兩千。