Banpo Neolithic Village Museum, built in 1958, is located in the eastern outskirt of
Xian City, Shaanxi Province. Being the first neolithic site museum in China, it is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic Yangshao cultural village sites dating back about 6,000 years.Discovered in 1953, The Banpo Site is a typical Neolithic
matriarchal community of the Yangshao Culture in China's Yellow River basin. At that time, the people living here 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.
What to see?
Banpo Neolithic Village Museum is built around a historical site consisting of the remains of a 6,000 year-old village once home to a matriarchal clan community.The approximately 4,500 square meters exhibit area of Banpo Museum is divided into two Exhibition Halls and a Site Hall.
Excavation of Banpo Sites
Banpo Sites belong to Neolithic Yangshao culture. It was discovered in 1953. From 1954 to 1957,Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Sciences had excavated for 5 times, with a total area of 50,000 square meters, exposing an area of 10,000 square meters. The sites can be dated back to 4800 BC - 4300 years ago. Banpo Neolithic Village Museum was built in 1958 on the ruins.
Banpo Yangshao Culture
The distinct culture of these villagers was known as Yangshao culture. This kind of culture emphasizes the importance of women. So, there are more female tombs and graves here than male, and the women graves contain more objects and valuables than their male counterparts do.
From this museum, we have got some information of that age. The living section of Banpo Village occupied an area of 30,000 square meters. It was surrounded by a moat to protect the village against wild animals and floods. The largest among the remains of the 46 houses, located in the centre of the living area is possibly a
meeting hall. There are cellars to store grain and tools outside the houses, and they illustrate the equal distribution and communal features of the society. It is a fascinating peek at the birth of civilization.
Today, the site itself is pretty flat and uninspiring. It takes a lot of imagination to picture how this place used to be and the Disney-style "Yangshao Village" which has been reconstructed at the site makes this area less appealing.
Banpo Neolithic Village Museum
Banpo Neolithic Village Museum’s display and exhibition area is about 4,500 square meters. It has 3 parts: Cultural Relics Exhibition Hall, the hall of the Banpo Sites and Auxiliary Exhibition Hall.
The Site Hall : The Site Hall is about 3,000 square meters including the residential, pottery making and burial section. The residential section is the main part of the site. There are huts, kilns and tombs. The site gives us an impression of the aboriginal village and the living condition of the forefathers, reflecting the civilization of that period of time.
Cultural Relics Exhibition : The cultural relics exhibition is consisted of the Hall 1 and Hall 2. The two rooms are displaying the production tools and household items. Site hall is 3,000 square meters, which is a part of the original village.
Auxiliary Exhibition Hall : There are the Hall 3 and Hall 4, which mainly holds special subject exhibition about prehistory.
Banpo Matriarchy Village: It is the extension of Banpo Museum. It takes protection of the ruins as the prerequisite, according to archaeological data, moved the the precious heritage from underground on the ground, three-dimensional reappearing the human matriarchal society.
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