陕西古代史的第一部分是史前史，从距今约115万年至公元前21世纪。陕西是亚洲重要的人类发源地。在史前时期部分展出的有1964年在陕西省蓝田县发现的距今115万年的蓝田人头骨化石，蓝田人是目前已知的亚洲北部最早的直立人。

继蓝田人之后，1978年在陕西省大荔县发现了一个相当完整的人类头骨化石，距今约10万年。大荔人头骨化石是我国迄今发现最完整的早期智人化石。大荔人使用的工具的特点是器形较小。

这里展出的尖底瓶、石球、陶网坠、骨箭镞、鱼叉和各种彩陶器说明，距今7 000至5 000年前的仰韶文化时期，母系氏族社会的半坡人生产力已大大提高。在物质文明发展的同时，人们开始了精神文明的追求。半坡出土的陶埙是我国迄今发现最早的吹奏乐器。1985年，我国一位民乐演奏家用它成功地吹奏出乐曲，引起国际音乐界的极大兴趣。

约5 000年前，中国进入龙山文化时期。陕西境内龙山文化村落遗址分布广泛，其中以渭河流域最为密集。从龙山文化开始，人类进入了父系氏族公社阶段。随着社会经济的发展，男子开始取代女子在社会中的支配地位。制陶工艺采用了快轮，因而制作出的陶器陶壁厚薄均匀，造型多样。另外，灰陶取代了仰韶文化时期的彩陶。

The first section focuses on the history of Shaanxi Province during the Prehistoric Age，which ranges from1 150 000 years ago to the 21st century BC.Here on display is the fossil of a 1 150 000－year－old Ape－man skull discovered in Lantian County，Shaanxi Province in 1964.It is the earliest known Homoerectus in northern Asia.

After the discovery of the human fossil in Lantian，the fossil of an almost complete hominid skull was found in Dali County，Shaanxi Province in 1978.The hominid lived about 100 000 years ago，and belonged to a new stage of human evolution，known as Homosapiens.The fossil of the Dali Man's skull was intact，compared with other hominid skulls excavated in China.The stone implements used by the Dali Man were relatively small in size.

Also on display are tip－bottomed bottles，stone balls，pottery plummets，bone arrows，harpoons and painted pottery utensils.These indicate that Banpo Men lived in a matriarchal clan community and had a relatively high level of productivity during the Yangshao Culture Period dating about 7 000－5 000 years ago.With the progress of civilization，they began to strive for a spiritual civilization.A pottery wind instrument unearthed from the site of Banpo Village is the earliest musical instrument in China.In 1985，a Chinese folk musician played pieces of music with it and aroused wide attention in international musical circles.

China entered the Longshan Culture Period about 5 000 years ago.The village ruins，typical of the Longshan Culture，are scattered extensively in Shaanxi Province and chiefly centered in the area of the Weihe River.Starting from the period of Longshan Culture，society moved into the age of a patriarchal clan community.With social and economic development，men began to play a dominant role in social activities instead of women.With the invention of the“fast potter's wheel”，the earthen－ware

made was uniform in thickness and va－ried in style. In addition，painted pottery wares gave way to their grey pottery counterparts.