Banpo Museum - the first prehistoric settlement ruins in China
Last Update: 9th October 2020
What is the Banpo Museum?
With a history of more than 6,000 years, Banpo Village Ruins is a typical matriarchal clan settlement in the Yellow River Basin. Banpo Village Ruins was discovered in 1953. With an area of 8.2 hectares, the Banpo Village Ruins Museum is located on the bank of the Chanhe River in the eastern suburbs of Xi’an, about 8 kilometers from downtown Xi’an.
- Chinese Name: Banpocun Yizhi (半坡村遗址)
- Area: 8. 2 x Hectares
- Things to do there: Photography, Maternal Clan Culture Study
- Who visits: Photographers, Culture Lovers, Archaeologists
- Time required: 1 – 2 x hours
Wendy Wei Tours offers a variety of different packaged tours as well as custom tours including the Banpo Museum, among other attractions and destinations. To find out more, please visit our Tours page or Contact Us directly to find out more.
The Banpo Village Ruins is divided into three districts, namely the residential area in the center of the settlement, the tombs area and the pottery workshop area. The residential area is divided into two sections in the south and the north, each with a large house for public activities, and a number of small houses with cellars and livestock fences.
The residential area is surrounded by trenches, the north of the ditch is a public cemetery, and the east of the ditch is a pottery kiln. Numerous objects were disclosed during the excavation from 1954 to 1957.
Visitors can explore more than 40 houses, 2 livestock fences, more than 200 cellars, 6 pottery kiln, and 250 various tombs (including 174 adult tombs and 73 children tombs), and nearly 10,000 production tools and living utensils, including stone axes, stone hoes, stone knives, pottery knives and the like.
From the excavation of the remains of the houses, they are round and square, half in the ground or completely on the ground.
Most of the adult tombs are located in the clan public cemetery on the northern part of the ditch, others are located on the southeast and southwest of the ditch, and two skeletons of flexor limbs buried in the kiln of the residential area. Urn burials were applied to the dead children.
Dead children and dead adults were basically buried in different places. Urns were buried near residential houses, and adults were buried outside residential area.
The best time to visit Banpo Village Ruins is in the morning as it is not hot during its opening hours. The best months to visit are from March to May, and from September to October.
Several public buses pass by Banpo Village Ruins. Therefore, there are several options.
- Rent a vehicle to Banpo Village Ruins. This is the quickest and most direct option.
- Take Bus 15, 416, 42, 11, 105, 241, 307, 401, and 715 to the ruins.
- Take Metro Line 1 to the Stop of Banpo (半坡站).
- Opening hours: 08:00 – 18:00
- As at 9th October 2020, from March 1 to November 30, entrance pricing is 65 CNY per person; from December 1 to February 28/29, entrance pricing is 45 CNY per person; children under 1.2m (1.2m not included) and the elder above 65 years old (65 years old included) are free of charge. For the latest pricing information, please contact us via email (info@wendyweitours.com)
- The museum offers charged interpretation service.
Wendy Wei Tours offers a variety of different packaged tours as well as custom tours including the Banpo Museum, among other attractions and destinations. To find out more, please visit our Tours page or Contact Us directly to find out more.