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Banpo

半坡
location in China
Location	Shaanxi
Region	China
Coordinates	34°16′23″N 109°03′04″E / 34.273°N 109.051°E / 34.273; 109.051
History
Founded	6700 BP
Abandoned	5600 BP
Periods	Neolithic China
Cultures	Yangshao culture

Banpo is an archaeological site discovered in 1953 by Shi Xingbang, and located in the Yellow River Valley just east of Xi'an, China. It contains the remains of several well organized Neolithic settlements, like Jiangzhai, carbon dated to 6700–5600 years ago. The area of 5 to 6 hectares (12 to 15 acres) is surrounded by a ditch, probably a defensive moat, 5 to 6 meters (16 to 20 ft) wide. The houses were circular, built of mud and wood with overhanging thatched roofs. They sat on low foundations. There appear to be communal burial areas.

Banpo is the type site associated with Yangshao Culture. Archaeological sites with similarities to the first phase at Banpo are considered to be part of the “Banpo phase” (5th millennium BC) of the Yangshao culture. Banpo was excavated from 1954 to 1957.

Banpo was the first culture to use the potter's wheel in China, while other cultures continued to use coiling techniques, and the potter's wheel only became generalized by the end of the Yangshao period. Banpo also had the first pottery kilns in China. The designs of the Banpo were often geometric, and animal or anthropomorphic figures.

The settlement was surrounded by a moat, with the graves and pottery kilns located outside the moat perimeter. Many of the houses were semisubterranean with the floor typically 1 meter (3 ft) below the ground surface. The houses were supported by timber poles and had steeply pitched thatched roofs.

According to the Marxist paradigm of archaeology that was prevalent in the China during the time of the excavation of the site, Banpo was considered to be a matriarchal society; however, new research contradicts this claim and the Marxist paradigm is gradually being phased out in modern Chinese archaeological research. Currently, little can be said of the religious or political structure from these ruins from the archaeological evidence.

The site is now home to the Xi'an Banpo Museum, built in 1957 to preserve the archaeological collection.

• Pottery pot with human and fish design, Shaanxi province. Beijing Capital Museum
• Yangshao cordmarked amphora (Banpo phase, 4800 BC, Shaanxi.
• Human faced–fish decorated bowl recovered at Banpo.
• Banpo anthropomorphic motif
• Banpo burial
• A skull recovered at Banpo displayed at the Xi'an Banpo Museum.

See also

• Banpo symbols
• Sanxingdui
• Cishan culture
• Nanzhuangtou
• Jiangzhai
• Yangguanzhai

Footnotes

1. "Pioneering archaeologist who helped excavate Terracotta Warriors dies at 99". South China Morning Post. 24 October 2022.
2. Yang, Xiaoping (2010). "Climate Change and Desertification with Special Reference to the Cases in China". Changing Climates, Earth Systems and Society. pp. 177–187. doi:10.1007/978-90-481-8716-4_8. ISBN 978-90-481-8715-7.
3. Crawford, Garry W. (2004). "East Asian plant domestication" (PDF). In Miriam T. Stark (ed.). Archaeology of Asia. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 77–95.
4. Fuller, Dorian Q; Qin, Ling; Harvey, Emma (2008). "A Critical Assessment of Early Agriculture in East Asia, with emphasis on Lower Yangzte Rice Domestication" (PDF). Pragdhara: 17–52.
5. Meng, Y; Zhang, HQ; Pan, F; He, ZD; Shao, JL; Ding, Y (2011). "Prevalence of dental caries and tooth wear in a Neolithic population (6700-5600 years BP) from northern China". Archives of Oral Biology. 56 (11): 1424–35. doi:10.1016/j.archoralbio.2011.04.003. PMID 21592462.
6. ^ Jarzombek, Mark M; Prakash, Vikramaditya (9 February 2011). A Global History of Architecture. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9780470902455.
7. ^ Chang, Kwang-chih; Xu, Pingfang; Lu, Liancheng; Pingfang, Xu; Wangping, Shao; Zhongpei, Zhang; Renxiang, Wang (1 January 2005). The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective. Yale University Press. p. 64. ISBN 978-0-300-09382-7.
8. Liu, Li (2004). The Chinese Neolithic. p. 11. ISBN 9781139441704.
9. Lu, H.; Zhang, J.; Liu, K.-b.; Wu, N.; Li, Y.; Zhou, K.; Ye, M.; Zhang, T.; et al. (2009). "Earliest domestication of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) in East Asia extended to 10,000 years ago". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 106 (18): 7367–72. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106.7367L. doi:10.1073/pnas.0900158106. PMC 2678631. PMID 19383791.
10. "Banpo Museum in Xi'an". chinamuseums.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2013.

References

• Allan, Sarah (ed), The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective, ISBN 0-300-09382-9
• Chang, Kwang-chih. The Archaeology of Ancient China, ISBN 0-300-03784-8

• Populated places established in the 7th millennium BC
• 1953 archaeological discoveries
• History of Xi'an
• Archaeological sites in China
• Neolithic cultures of China
• Neolithic settlements
• Former populated places in China
• Archaeological type sites
• Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shaanxi
• 5th-millennium BC establishments
• Tourist attractions in Xi'an
• Yangshao culture