Xi’an Banpo Museum

Xi’an Banpo Museum
西安半坡博物院

Address: 155 Banpo Road, Baqiao district, Xi’an, Shaanxi province
Website:  www.bpmuseum.com/
Hours: 8:00-18:00,1 March-30 November
8:00-17:30,1 December-February
General admission: 55 yuan, 1 March- 30 November
40 yuan, 1 December- February
E-mail: banpobwg@163.com

In 1953, some colored pottery was found while building a thermal power plant in Xi’an. After extensive research, the Banpo site was gradually revealed to the public.

As China’s first museum of prehistoric ruins, the Xi’an Banpo Museum offers a look into the matriarchal clan society that lived in the Yellow River basin during the Neolithic Age about 6,000 years ago, revealing their social organization and daily activities.

Banpo Museum consists of two exhibition halls and an excavation site hall. The first exhibition hall mainly displays the tools used by the Banpo people, including stone knives, sickles, fishhooks, and specula. The second exhibition hall focuses on major inventions and art items that reflect the fork culture and social life of the time.

The Banpo site, occupying an area of approximately 50,000 square meters, was divided into three parts: a residential area, a pottery making area, and a cemetery. The residential area is the largest and displays structures from that era, including huts, kilns, and tombs. Among the ruins are 46 dwellings, two domestic animal pens, over 200 storage pits, 174 adult tombs, 73 burial jars for kids, six pottery kilns, and many production and domestic tools. The site offers a glimpse into the lives of the prehistoric Banpo people.