The Banpo Symbols is a name sometimes given to the 27 markings on prehistoric artifacts found in Banpo in Shaanxi

Shaanxi

' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...

, related to the Yangshao culture

Yangshao culture

The Yangshao culture was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the central Yellow River in China. The Yangshao culture is dated from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after Yangshao, the first excavated representative village of this culture, which was discovered in 1921...

. These markings are also found in some other Yangshao sites in Shaanxi.

Some believe the markings to be a writing system related to Oracle bone script

Oracle bone script

Oracle bone script refers to incised ancient Chinese characters found on oracle bones, which are animal bones or turtle shells used in divination in Bronze Age China...

, but others doubt that the markings represent writing at all.

Most pottery fragments show only one, or sometimes two, of the above marks.

External links

• Late Pre-historic Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Period in China
• Banpo Symbols(webpage in Traditional Chinese)