In
the present-day Banpo
village, about five
kilometers to the east
from Xi’an, lies the
actual and complete
archaeological site of a
Neolithic village---the
Banpo Site, dating back
to 6000 years. It is a
typical village of that
time, discovered in the
spring of 1953. Later,
after five large-scale
digs of excavation
organized by Chinese
Academy of Sciences, an
area of approximate
10,000 square meter was
excavated, covering one
fifth of the total site
area. Among the
excavated finds are 45
house sites, 2 penned
sites, 6 pottery-making
kilns, over 200 stronge
pits, over 250 burial
jars of adults and
children, over 1,000
pieces of tools and
utensils, as well as
thousands of kernels,
animal bones and rotten
millets. An on-the-site
museum was set up here
in 1985, and named after
the present place where
it was discovered "Xi’an
Banpo Museum". Apart
from the relic
exhibition rooms, a
3,000 square-meter
on-the-site great hall
of the remains was set
up for protection of the
site. The Banpo Museum
is one of the historical
sites designated for
state protection.
The Banpo Neolithic Site
consists of 3 sections:
the dwelling area, the
pottery-making center
and the cemetery.
According to
archeologists’
demonstration, the Banpo
inhabitants’ social
organization was the
matriarchal society and
the villagers lived in a
primitive communist
society. Women were the
organizers and main
forces in the primitive
society. They were
mainly engaged in
pottery-making, weaving,
domestic animal rearing
and farming while men
mainly engaged in
fishing, hunting and
fighting.
Banpo Village was in the
loess area, so the soil
was spongy. The tools of
production used by the
ancestors not only
include stone axes,
knives, spades and hoes,
but also some tools made
of wood, such as digging
sticks and hoes, etc.
A complete vertical
pottery-making kiln is
kept here and it is the
oldest pottery-making
kiln discovered in China
up to now. The pottery
wares unearthed here
total up to 50 to 60
kinds, including jars
for cooking, tripots,
the tip-bottomed bottles
for holding water,
gourd-shaped pots,
narrow-necked flasks,
pottery bowls, ect. Some
of the pottery objects
were decorated with
colorful geometric
designs, and some were
decorated with the
designs of fish with a
big mouth, running deer
and various types of
human-faced fish. It is
worthwhile to mention
here that some carved
and painted signs were
found on the unearthed
pottery vessles. Are
these signs incantation
characters, a kind of
characters or implying
deeper meaning? This
will be left for further
investigation by the
later generations.
In the north of the
site, lies the communal
cemetery. The adults and
children were buried in
different ways. The
adults were found to be
buried in various
postures. Some were
buried with their faces
upwards, some were
buried with their faces
downwards, and some were
buried with the limbs
dended. The burying pits
are in a proper order
with burial articles in
each while children were
always buried in rough
pottery jars near their
houses. The famous
archeologist Guo Moruo
wrote a poem describing
this as: "There are
graves for children at
Banpo Museum, the
corpses are placed in
pottery jars. A hole is
chipped in each cover of
the pottery coffin, and
the souls can go in and
out through. The burial
pits are near the
houses, it seems that
they are still in their
mothers’ bosoms. While
the adults are buried
without coffins, and
they are buried in
places of desolation.
This shows the
inhabitants’ love for
their children and this
kind of love will go
from generation to
generation forver." From
this we can see how our
ancestors loved and
concerned about their
children. |