Banpo Museum

Banpo Museum is located at the eastern outskirts of the Xi’an city. It is the first prehistoric excavation museum site of China. Banpo (half slope) was one of the typical villages of Neolithic Matriarchal community of Yangshao culture in 5000-3000 BC which is around 6000 years ago. The culture of Yangshao was named after the discovery of the first civilization in Yangshao of Henan Province. More than 400 sites of this type around the Basin of the Yellow River have been discovered till now and the Banpo site being the largest among all of them.

Banpo Museum

Banpo Museum

This site was discovered in the year 1953 where the construction of a power plant was going in that area. Since after then, the work of excavation was started and it took almost four years. The Banpo site was then opened to the public in the year 1958. More than two million people have visited this site since then.

The Banpo site have occupied an area of about 50 thousand square meters and it has been divided into three major parts which are the pottery making area, the living area and the cemetery area. There are about 46 dwellings, over 200 storage pits, two domestic animal pens, 73 burial jars for the kids, 174 adult tombs, six kilns for pottery making and many domestic as well as production tools. This site provides the clear picture of the life styles of the primitive people of Banpo long ago.

Banpo Museum

Banpo Museum

 

Banpo Museum has two exhibition halls and one excavation site hall. In the first exhibition hall, the tools like stone knives, fishhooks, sickles, specula, etc are displayed which were used by the people of Banpo. These exhibits are the examples for the visitors to see the activities of the Banpo people. The second exhibition hall contains the showpieces which are the art items and major inventions reflecting the social life and fork culture of that time. Few artifacts present in this hall include a pointed bottom bottle, fish-and-human-face design pottery, pottery steamer and burial jars of children.

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