Some scholars, applying the three criteria: "are they pictophonetic characters (characters combining a meaning element and a phonetic element)," "are there sequences of characters or phrases," and "can they be deciphered," would judge that the inscription on the pottery is not "writing" but only "markings."
有些學者曾以「是不是形聲字」、「有否詞綴和句子」、「能否釋讀」三條件，作為判斷陶器上的刻文非「文字」，而只是「記號」的依據。