Literature research on ancient books of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） is an important carrier for inheriting the academic achievements and thoughts of TCM， and a key step for continuing the Chinese civilization and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Based on this， the paper puts forward the purpose of sorting out TCM ancient books：to explore the treasure of traditional culture， reveal its significance， carry forward its spirit， learn from its experiences， so as to make a contribution to the development of TCM. And this paper expounds several major problems in the literature research， that is， paying attention to the phenomenon of "stubborn bass"， avoiding the trend of "latecomers turning inferior"， attaching importance to the hidden trouble of "making comments on behalf of the ancients". Then， this paper discusses the methodology of carrying out accurate research and revealing the true nature and true value of scholarship with the idea of confucian orthodoxy， the rules of not forgetting the original intention and the scientific method. Taking the materia medica archaeology as an example， the author shared the practical exploration of how to crack the historical code with scientific and technological means， so as to provide useful reference for the literature research on TCM ancient books.