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Banpo Museum

Introduction

Banpo Museum is located in the east of Xi'an and is the site of a village that dates back around 6,000 years to the Neolithic era, which is known as the Yangshao Culture in China. The site was discovered in 1953 and covers an area of approximately 50,000 sq meters. Excavations revealed 45 houses, pottery, kilns, a burial ground, grain stores and tool stores. Banpo is considered to be one of the best examples of an agricultural community of this era anywhere in the world.

It is claimed that the residents of this ancient village lived in a matriarchal community where the women organized everything from the hunting and farming to the building of the village and digging the defensive moats that protected the well-planned community. Other relics uncovered at the site include examples of the pottery of this era and over 10,000 tools and household utensils.

Banpo Museum

by Angela Zhang Yue

Located in the eastern outskirts of Xi'an city, Banpo Museum, the first on the excavation site museum in China, was opened in 1958. Banpo (half slope) Village was a typical Neolithic Matriarchal community of the Yangshao culture about 6000 years ago. The Yangshao culture (5000-3000 BC) was named after the first discovery of this civilization in Yangshao, Henan Province. About 400 sites of this type have been discovered around the Yellow River Basin, and the Banpo site is the largest and the most typical one.

Banpo site was discovered in 1953 when a power plant was on. By Carbon 14 dating tools operation, the prehistoric site is considered to be a Matriarchal community at the Neolithic age about 6000 years old. After five scientific excavations, the Banpo Museum at the actual site of the primitive settlement was set up.

The Banpo site, occupying an area of 50,000 square meters, was divided into three parts: the dwelling area, the pottery making area and the cemetery area. On the ruins are 46 dwellings, two domestic animal pens and over 200 storage pits, 174 adult tombs, 73 children burial jars, six pottery making kilns and many production and domestic tools.

Banpo Museum consists of two exhibition rooms and an excavation site hall which covers an area of 1,000 square meters, one fifth of the total area.

The first exhibition hall mainly displays the tools used by the Banpo people, including stone tools made by cutting, polishing and grinding. Bone fishhooks and needles were exquisitely made.

The cultural relics in the second exhibition hall are major inventions and art items, made by Banpo man, which reflect the fork culture and social life of that time. The most famous Artifacts in this hall include a fish-and-human-face-design pottery basin, pointed-bottom bottles, a pottery steamer and a man head sculpture.

The Fish-and-Human-Face-Design Painted Pottery Basin

This painted pottery basin is gracefully decorated with a design of fish and a human face. The hair on the head was well-pinned into a knot. A fish was held in each corner of its mouth. The design depicts a close relationship between the Banpo people and fish. They may have depended on fishing. This basin was probably very symbolic to them.

The Pointed-Bottom Bottle

It is a characteristic pottery piece excavated from the Banpo site. It is a water-drawing pottery jar, in which the center of gravity principle is skillfully applied: when floating the bottle will automatically leak and then be filled as the mouth of the bottle touches the water. When the bottle has been filled with water and the cord tied to the two handle is lifted, the bottle will also automatically stand upright due to the shifting of the center of gravity. The device enjoys two great advantages: it is portable and can easily be carried on the back and its small mouth prevents water from spilling out.

The hall of the excavation site

The excavation hall, rebuilt in 2007, is installed with video implements to give the exact ideas how the primitive houses were built 6,000 years ago. The remains of clay houses in various shapes, pig pens, storage pits, children burial jars and a part of surrounding moat are scattered at the site. A kiln ruins is located outside of the excavation hall. All these present us an outlook of the aboriginal village and the hard situations of the Banpo people 6,000 years ago in pursuing the civilization, reflecting the production level and the social systems at that period of time.

External link to Wikipedia