小孩子死后，半坡先民把他們裝入甕棺安葬，這是當(dāng)時(shí)的習(xí)俗。孩子死后不能葬在村子的公共墓地里；先在房屋周圍的某個(gè)地方挖個(gè)洞，將甕罐埋在那里，然后把尸體放入，再在口上蓋一個(gè)碗或盆——這要看甕罐有多大了。罐上的圓孔，據(jù)說是相信靈魂不滅的半坡人為死去的孩子的靈魂留下的一個(gè)自由出入的通道。

把孩子葬在房屋周圍表示母親對死去孩子的愛。她們認(rèn)為孩子太小不能獨(dú)立生活，還需要照顧；另一方面，也說明半坡當(dāng)時(shí)有著嚴(yán)格的喪葬制度，既然孩子早早就去世了，他們就不能算作氏族的成員。

到目前為止在半坡遺址共發(fā)現(xiàn)了73個(gè)甕棺。顯然，由于惡劣的自然環(huán)境，當(dāng)時(shí)的嬰幼兒死亡率是相當(dāng)高的。

這里我還要向?yàn)榇蠹医榻B一下相關(guān)出土文物。

The burial of children in jars is a custom of the Banpo people.When children died，they were not buried in the communal cemetery of the village. People first dug apit somewhere near their house into which they placed a pottery jar，and then laid the corpse inside，and covered the mouth of the jar with a pottery bowl or basin，depending on the size of the jar.But why did they leave holes in the burial jars for the dead children？Because the people of Banpo Village believed that the souls of the dead children were immortal，they deliberately made some holes in the jars to allow the souls to escape.

Burying the children near the house was probably an indication of the mothers'affection for their lost children.Perhaps mothers thought that their children were too small to live by themselves，and they still needed to be taken care of.On the other hand，it is believed that there was a strict rule for burying the dead in Banpo.Since those children died very young，they were not considered as full members of the clan.

So far 73 children's burial jars have been excavated.Obviously，the infant death rate was very high in those days because of the tough natural conditions.

I will introduce other unearthed artifacts for you.