Ancient site · Settlement
Banpo
Banpo, east of Xi'an in the Wei River valley, was discovered in 1953 and is the classic village of the early Yangshao culture. Five to six hectares of round and square houses, many half sunk into the ground with thatched roofs, were surrounded by a ditch about 5–6 metres wide.
Pottery kilns and a cemetery lay outside. Banpo is known for its painted red pottery and for simple signs marked on pots, which are not true writing. The Xi'an Banpo Museum, built over the excavation in 1957, shows how a village of millet farmers lived.
- Dates
- c. 4700–3600 BCE
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 34.27° N, 109.05° E
How we know
No writing existed; the village is dated by radiocarbon, and the signs painted on its pots are not considered writing.
Nearby sites
- Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang and the Terracotta Army 246–209 BCE
- Taosi c. 2300–1900 BCE
- Erlitou c. 1750–1500 BCE (older estimates from c. 1900 BCE)
- Peiligang c. 7000–5000 BCE (Peiligang culture)
- Zhengzhou Shang City c. 1600–1400 BCE
- Jiahu c. 7000–5700 BCE
Related
- Yangshao culture archaeological culture