Yangshao Culture

The Yangshao Culture was a Neolithic civilization that existed along the Yellow River in China, between 5000 and 3000 BC. It is named after the town of Yangshao, in modern Henan Province, which was the first of its kind to be discovered in 1921 by the Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson. However the best-preserved and currently most famous of all the Yangshao sites is the village of Banpo, which sits between the Chanhe and Bahe rivers, just east of the ancient capital city Xi’an. It houses an illustrious museum of the artefacts discovered at the site, as well as modern recreations of the village. Yet as much as the Yangshao has produced much evidence to promote its relative modernity, there appears to be a series of smoke and mirrors shrouding its sociological relevance.

 A Yangshao of All Trades

Though the culture is famed most notably for its painted pottery (it is actually commonly called the ‘Painted Pottery’ period), it encompasses the entire lifestyle of the Neolithic people who inhabited the region. This includes agriculture, living quarters, tool development and art. The culture prospered in the area covering the modern provinces of Henan, Shaanxi and Shanxi; all of which are largely centred on the country’s former longstanding capital city, Xi’an – and there have been over 100 separate sites excavated since Banpo’s discovery.

Tools and items from almost every part of daily life have been found, giving an insight into the way in which the Yangshao people lived. Production tools such as knives, axes, chisels, arrowheads and spindles show the Yangshao had a diverse diet. Fishing, hunting and weaving played a major part, and areas specifically for farming and a wide range of animal remains show the Yangshao kept pigs and dogs as major livestock.

Like many other Neolithic sites, Yangshao villages were meticulously ordered, whereby a large building acted as the town hall and was faced by dozens of mid-sized, then smaller, houses in a sickle-shaped formation. Burials were similarly ordered, with each body placed in a rectangular pit just outside the settlement, accompanied by various accoutrements they had acquired over the course of their life.

In many cases, especially at Banpo, the women of the tribe appeared to have been buried in a more ceremonious fashion – and sons were buried with their mothers, rather than fathers. This finding has led to a debate raging about the possibility of Banpo and its nearby cousins as one of the earliest matriarchal societies.

A Red Herring?

During the excavation of Banpo in 1953, China was seeing some of its most groundbreaking shifts in political ideals. The Marxist ideal which had already carved out the Soviet Union in Europe and Central Asia was now bludgeoning its way through China – and would culminate in the Cultural Revolution into a communist People’s Republic just thirteen years later in 1966. Much of this Chinese archaeology has come under intense international scrutiny for its insistence upon the greatness and originality of historic Chinese culture; namely the matriarchal, or classless, society apparent in Banpo.

Thus Banpo and Yangshao culture was hailed as a glorious precursor to a successful Chinese Marxism, by Mao and his Communist Party of China associates. However, most scholars today disagree with his conclusion, and point to the fact that extremely few Yangshao graves actually intern more than one person – and to draw conclusions on a vast minority of cases would be extremely divisive.

Other doubters claim later graves from the time appear to suggest couples and families, which implies the genesis of the traditional patriarchal situation we are, or have been, familiar with today. Many believe sexual and sociological paradigms such as female dominance and promiscuity have been vastly exaggerated by the Chinese, when most archaeological evidence points strongly towards a conventional gender arrangement. Indeed empty graves excavated at the early Yangshao site of Yuanjunmiao seem to suggest a consciousness of lineage, adding another point to the argument against Yangshao as a groundbreaking example of prehistoric matriarchy.

The Yangshao Today: From Banpo to Pottery

Nowadays the Xi’an Banpo Museum, located on the site of the original village and founded in 1958, remains China’s best-kept account of the Yangshao culture. It consists of two exhibition halls – one containing tools; the other pottery – as well as a huge hall area displaying the village remains. There are also recreations of the buildings in which the Yangshao lived, making the site a popular one for tourists eager to catch a glimpse of prehistoric China.

 However it is the pottery which draws most attention for its intricacy and vividly hued artwork. Reds, blacks and white adorn all of the urns, stele, and bowls. And around a dozen different patterns have emerged from the Banpo haul. These are usually pastoral scenes of men fishing and hunting, and women doing housework and collecting fruits and vegetables. But there are also more abstract images, most notably a circular saw, mesh-like circle which appears frequently. Also, any animals portrayed were frequently divided into compartments – head, body, legs etc. This was a big step in Chinese art; the painter dissecting the world around him or her – and the results are stunningly beautiful.

Thus there is plenty to learn about the Yangshao culture through archaeological finds such as their pottery and agricultural techniques. Yet on balance it seems the Marxist ideals of a classless Yangshao culture have been dramatically overstated by the powers who ruled China throughout the culture’s excavation.

Images by Mary Haarch

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About The Author

Sean Williams (follow me: e-mail or )

Last three pieces by this author:

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Sean is an English Literature graduate, who currently works as a writer and journalist in London. He enjoys ancient history, theatre and sport. He does not enjoy Big Brother.