Various artifacts from the Yin-Zhou, Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods are dated to before the unification of Qin. Since the Song Dynasty, various records and collections of major domestic and foreign museums have been collected, and we strive to collect them more completely. Newly unearthed and collected items from various places are limited to those that have been published publicly when each volume is compiled. The total number of inscriptions collected is expected to be over 10,000 pieces. There are five main sources of rubbings used in the book:

(1) Old rubbings accumulated by the Institute of Archeology over the years

(2) Archives of "Acta Archeologica Sinica" and "Archaeology"

(3) The editorial team members went to relevant units to make new rubbings

(4) Ready-made rubbings or original large photos of rubbings provided by several cultural and museum units

(5) Rubbings lent by several units or individuals.

Among them, items (1) and (2) total about 5,000 utensils, (3) recommends nearly 3,000 utensils, (4) more than 1,000 utensils, and (5) There are not many items. There are also a certain number of inscriptions on vessels. Due to the lack of good copying on hand or only copies circulating, we adopt the method of cutting and pasting "Three Dynasties Ji Jin Wen Cun", (Golden Inscriptions of Shang and Zhou Dynasties) and other books, or copying other inscriptions in proportion by our institute's technical laboratory, using There are two ways to make it up. The name of the device on the page was written by Comrade Liu Xun.