The ancient capital of Xi'an has a long history, but no one can tell how far it is. The earliest capital in Xi'an was established during the Zhou Dynasty. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wen of Zhou Ji Chang chose this place. From then on, Xi'an has been an important political, economic and cultural center for thousands of years. But what makes people wonder is, before the Western Zhou Dynasty, even before the establishment of dynasties, what was the situation in Xi'an?

Banpo site

To trace the traces of history, we must also look at what history has left behind. In Baqiao District, the eastern suburbs of Xi'an City, there is a Banpo site dating back to more than 6000 years ago. When it was first unearthed, it shocked the world and gave people a further understanding of the primitive civilization 6000 years ago. This is the most typical site of matriarchal clan commune villages in primitive society. It is also the first large-scale excavation of Neolithic tribal sites in my country. This has advanced the development of historical civilization in Shaanxi for thousands of years. Forty-five houses, more than 250 tombs, 6 pottery kiln sites and tens of thousands of daily production supplies have been excavated at the Banpo site, covering an area of more than 50,000 square meters.

pottery making technology

The Banpo site has a total area of 50,000 square meters, and the current excavation area is only about one-fifth of it. Nowadays, we can see a huge ditch on the Banpo village site, dividing the site into a residential area and a pottery burning area. The residential area is the center of the entire village site. The houses here are similar in size, and the building structure is divided into ground wooden frame buildings and semi-cave buildings. According to the similar quality and quantity of funerary objects in the tombs, it can be seen that the people here lived an equal and primitive life. Speaking of pottery burning areas, one has to admire the wisdom of our ancestors. People's pottery making techniques in the Banpo period were already very developed, and these pottery had far exceeded their practical value. The strong contrasting colors of red and black, the patterns of animals and plants, figures, and astronomy all proved that people had already appeared when making pottery at that time. Cultural and artistic ideas emerged. The "Human-Faced Fish Pattern Pottery Basin" is a representative of Yangshao colored pottery craftsmanship, which fully demonstrates the artistic talents of China's primitive ancestors.

Banpo Museum

Relying on the cultural background of the Banpo site, the Banpo Museum in Xi'an retains some of the living scenes of the residents of Banpo more than 6,000 years ago, including tombs, pottery kilns, kiln caves and other sites, covering an area of about 3000 square meters. The site also found pens for raising livestock, which proved that at that time, the residents of Banpo had begun to house livestock. In addition to the remains, the museum also contains pictures and films of Banpo Culture, which is amazing.

It was such a tribe with a very advanced civilization at that time, but disappeared instantly overnight. According to the analysis of the traces left today, the village did not even have time to take away the tools and food. It is unknown what happened here, leaving only unknown mysteries waiting for people to solve them in the future. The Banpo ruins are like a historical book without words, recording the glorious history of prehistoric civilization.