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The Banpo Museum is located in the eastern
suburb of XiĄŻan City. It was built at the base of the excavations of the
Banpo Site in 1958. The Banpo Site is a typical Neolithic matriarchal
community of the Yangshao Culture dating back about 6,000 years ago. At
that time, the Banpo people used tools made primarily of wood and stone.
Women, the crucial labor force, were responsible for making pottery, spinning,
and raising the family, while men fished.
The exhibition hall exhibits the unearthed relic exhibitions such as production
tools used by the primitive Banpo People, including axes, chisels, sickles,
and stone and pottery knives. Some potteries and adornments are also on
display.
The Site Hall is about 3,000 square meters and contains residential, pottery
making and burial section. Visitors today can see the remains of 45 houses,
2 stables, more than 200 cellars, 6 kilns, and about 250 tombs and 73
burial jars for Children. It was a matriarchal society based on farming.
The houses were constructed of thatch over wood beams while the floors
were sunk two to three feet into the ground. Heating was provided by a
central fire. Food was stored in underground caves.
The Banpo People worked together. They dug a trench around the entire
complex both for protection and for drainage. There was a large meeting
hall in the center of the village and a place for central storage. Most
of the tools such as axes, hoes, and knives, were made of stone, but some
implements were made of bone such needles for sewing. The stone tools
look remarkably sharp. Art, in the form of geometric designs and human
and animal figures, is found on many of the pots. Some of the pottery
items have marks scratched on them that may be a form of ancient writing.
The potteries produced for drinking, storage, cooking, and burial. The
Banpo Adults were buried in the cemetery outside the village; children
and infants were buried alongside the huts in special clay urns. The reason
for this is still unknown till today.
Banpo Museum offers the visitors a unique view on the Prehistoric Chinese
civilization.
Pictures of Banpo Museum:
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Gate of the Museum |
Furnace |
Ruin Site |
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Banpo People |
Pottery |
Pottery |
