BANPO NEOLITHIC SITE

This Neolithic village, which was more than 6 000 years old, typical of the first sédentarisations of the Yellow River basin, was updated by construction workers in 1953, in Banpo on the east shore of the Chan He River.

These are vestiges of a paraagan society belonging to the Yang Shao civilization that existed five millennia ago. Excavations protected by a structure (which resembles a hangar) were open to the public in 1958. They show a residential area with the location of forty houses, potters workshops and tombs of a community of about 300 members. The residential area was surrounded by a sort of moat (2 m deep and wide) protecting the village against the attacks of wild animals, but also torrential rains that could have flooded half-underground homes.

The children were buried in terracotta pots near the houses (these funeral boxes received the cleansing bones of the deceased). A tiny museum at the entrance to the site retains the objects discovered during excavations.

Drawings on pottery indicate the different periods. The most characteristic are "the man in the shape of a nail" and "the man fish", which was perhaps a totem at the time. The fish still appear among the mythical animals along with the dragon, the phoenix and the unicorn. It is always seen among other porcelain figurines on the roof of the temples. The word yu (fish) being homonyme of "prosperity", we always glue the image of two fish on the transom of doors during certain Chinese festivals.