Banpo is a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

archaeological site located in the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

valley, east of present-day

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

, China. Discovered in 1953 by Shi Xingbang, the site represents the first phase of the

Yangshao culture The Yangshao culture ( zh, c=仰韶文化, p=Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The Yangshao culture saw social and ...

() and features the remains of several well organized settlements—including

Jiangzhai Jiangzhai () is a Banpo phase Yangshao culture archaeological site in the east of Xi'an, where the earliest copper artifacts in China were found. Site The Jiangzhai site is located on the east bank of the Lin River in Lintong District, Xi'an, S ...

, which has been

radiocarbon dated Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...

to ). An area of was surrounded by a ditch, probably a defensive moat wide. The houses at Banpo were circular, built of mud and wood on low foundations, with overhanging thatched roofs. There also appear to have been communal burials.

Site

The settlement was surrounded by a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

, with the graves and pottery

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or Chemical Changes, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...

s located outside the moat perimeter. Many of the houses were semi-subterranean with the floor typically below the ground surface. The houses were supported by timber poles and had steeply pitched thatched roofs. According to the paradigm of archaeology influenced by

Marxist historiography Marxist historiography, or historical materialist historiography, is an influential school of historiography. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography include the centrality of social class, social relations of production in class-divided s ...

that was prevalent in China at the time the site was being excavated, Banpo society was considered to be

matriarchal Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of power and privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, ...

; however, new research contradicts this claim and the Marxist paradigm is gradually being phased out in modern Chinese archaeological research. The archaeological evidence to date has not allowed for deeper insight or analysis concerning the religious or political structure of Banpo society. The site is now home to the

Xi'an Banpo Museum The Banpo Museum () is a museum in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. The museum houses artifacts from the archaeological site of Banpo. The museum gives access to the excavated buildings, has a collection of artifacts from the site, and also has several re ...

, built in 1957 to preserve the archaeological collection.

Banpo culture

Banpo is the

type site In archaeology, a type site (American English) or type-site (British English) is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and H ...

of the Banpo culture, first phase of the

Yangshao Culture The Yangshao culture ( zh, c=仰韶文化, p=Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The Yangshao culture saw social and ...

. Archaeological sites with similarities to the site at Banpo are considered to be part of the "Banpo phase" (4th-3rd millennium BCE) of the Yangshao culture. Banpo was excavated from 1954 to 1957. The tomb of a four-year-old girl contains one of the earliest examples of children's

toys A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and ...

, a set of three stone balls.

Pottery innovations

Banpo was the first culture to use the

potter's wheel In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, ...

in China, while other cultures continued to use coiling techniques, and the potter's wheel only became generalized by the end of the

Yangshao The Yangshao culture ( zh, c=仰韶文化, p=Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The Yangshao culture saw social and ...

period. Banpo also had the first pottery kilns in China. The designs of the Banpo were often geometric, and animal or anthropomorphic figures. File:Banpo - Neolithic kiln (4535392749).jpg, Banpo pottery kiln File:Banpo Neolithic pottery (4535389317).jpg, Banpo pottery made on a potter's wheel File:YangshaoCordmarkedAmphoraBanpoPhase4800BCEShaanxi.jpg,

traditional cordmarked

amphora An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land ...

(Banpo phase, 4800 BC,

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

Designs

Banpo is known for a characteristic type of decorative pottery, with a red clay coating all over the body, and geometrical drawings in black, typically depicting a round human head with some fish around it. The round human head had a triangular design on top. Similarities have been noted between the motifs of the

Afanasievo culture The Afanasievo culture, or Afanasevo culture (Afanasevan culture) ( ''Afanas'yevskaya kul'tura''), is an early archaeological culture of south Siberia, occupying the Minusinsk Basin and the Altai Mountains during the eneolithic era, 3300 to 2 ...

and

Okunev culture Okunev culture (), also known as Okunevo culture, was a south Siberian archaeological culture of pastoralists from the early Bronze Age dated from the end of the 3rd millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium BC in the Minusinsk Basin on the mi ...

of the

Minusinsk basin Minusinsk Basin or Khakass-Minusinsk Basin (, ''Minusinskaya (Chakassko-Minusinskaya) kotlovina'') is in Khakassia and Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia located among mountains of South Siberia. Geography It is bounded on the west by Kuznetsk Alatau ...

in Siberia, and those on the potteries of Banpo. Pottery style emerging from the

spread westward to the

Majiayao culture The Majiayao culture was a group of Neolithic communities who lived primarily in the upper Yellow River region in eastern Gansu, eastern Qinghai and northern Sichuan, China. The culture existed from 3300 to 2000 BC. The Majiayao culture represent ...

, and then further to

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. Several of the potteries have symbol marks, and are part of the

Neolithic signs in China Beginning in the latter half of the 20th century, artifacts bearing markings dating to the Neolithic period have been unearthed at several archeological sites in China, mostly in the Yellow River valley. These symbols, collectively called ( 'pot ...

, but each sign occurs singly, which is antinomic with the function of a written script. They could instead be the personal mark of individual potters. File:Pottery pot with human and fish design from Neolithic age (9000 to 2000 BC). Found in Shaanxi province. Beijing Capital Museum.jpg, Pottery pot with human and fish design, Shaanxi province. Beijing Capital Museum File:Banpo bowl.jpg, Human faced–fish decorated bowl recovered at Banpo. File:Banpo motif.jpg, Banpo anthropomorphic motif File:Banpo Neolithic Village burial.jpg, Banpo burial File:BanpoSkull.jpg, A skull recovered at Banpo displayed at the

. File:Banpo pottery symbols.svg, Banpo pottery symbols

Footnotes

References