Storage pits and animal pens were interspersed among the houses at the center of the settlement. At Banpo, the principal crop was millet which was cultivated in the rich soils that surround the village. Such agricultural tools as bone hoes, polished stone adzes, axes, knives, and digging-stick weights were abundant at the site. Chestnuts, hazelnuts, and pinenuts supplemented the grain diet. The inhabitants of Banpo grew hemp, probably for use as a fiber.
Silk production is suggested by a neatly sliced silkworm cocoon that was recovered.
Numerous spindle whorls, for spinning thread, and bone needles also were found. Pigs and dogs were the principal domesticated animals, although cattle, sheep, and goats also were present. Bone and quartz arrow points, bone fishhooks, and net-sinkers all were found, along with plentiful bones of several varieties of deer. Thus hunting and fishing contributed to the diet at Ban- po. Banpo has yielded more than 500,000 pieces of pottery.