Since their discovery in the 1930s, the mysterious collections of giant stone jars scattered throughout central Laos have remained one of the great prehistoric puzzles of south-east (SE) Asia. It is thought that the jars represent the mortuary remains of an extensive and powerful Iron Age culture.
According to local
legend, the jars were created by a race of giants, whose king needed somewhere to
store his rice wine. The wine was to be consumed at a great feast to
celebrate an illustrious military victory thousands of years ago.
The breathtaking, mountainous,
and forested landscape of northern Laos conceals one of South-east Asia’s most
mysterious and least understood archaeological cultures, known primarily for
the massive stone jars they left behind. The megalithic jar sites of Laos
comprise 1m- to 3m-tall carved stone jars scattered across the landscape,
appearing alone or in clusters of up to several hundred. To date, it has been
thought they are related to the funerary rituals of an elusive, powerful, and
expansive group that existed during the Iron Age (c.500 BC-AD 500) – a
dynamic period with evidence for increasing social and political complexity.
The sites were brought to the attention of Western scholars by visitors and
surveyors from as early as the late 1800s
The Plain of Jars on the Xieng Khouang plain of Laos is one of
the most enigmatic archaeological points of interest on Earth. The unusual
scattering of thousands of megalithic jars across nearly one hundred sites deep
in the mountains of northern Laos has fascinated archaeologists and scientists
ever since their discovery in the 1930s.
A New Date for the Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars is made up of at least 3,000 giant stone jars
up to three meters (9.8 feet) tall. Until recently, the Plain of Jars was
believed to date to the Iron Age (500 BC to 500 AD). However, a new study
published in the journal PLOS One reveals that some of the massive jars could be more than
3,000 years old.
The research also shows that the human burials were interred in
the ground beside the jars between 700 and 1,200 years ago. As the researchers state, these new dates for the unusual site known as the Plain of
Jars demonstrate that it was “important for a very long time.”
These results come from Optically Stimulated Luminescence
dating, which was used on the jars, and radiocarbon dating, which pinpointed
the age of the skeletal remains and charcoal samples. In their paper, the researchers write that these dates show “the sites
have maintained ritual significance from the period of their initial placement
until historic times.”
Most of the megalithic jars are made of sandstone but there are
others carved out of much harder granite and limestone. One of the big mysteries about the site is how the massive jars, some weighing up to 10 metric tons,
were dragged from the quarry to be placed in groupings up to 10 km away. In the recent
study, the researchers touched on this conundrum, writing, “Whether the
completed jars were dragged on some form of wooden rollers or sledge remains
speculative.”
How Were the Jars Constructed?
Because most of the jars have lip rims, it is presumed that all
of them were originally covered with lids. And although a few stone lids have
been recorded, it is more likely that the main material used for the coverings
was wood or rattan.
The jars appear to have been manufactured with a degree of
knowledge of what materials and techniques were suitable. It is assumed that
Plain of Jars’ people used iron chisels to manufacture them, although no conclusive evidence for this
exists. Little is known about the people who carved the huge containers, and
the jars themselves give little clue as to their origins or purpose.
According to local legend, the jars were created by a race of giants, whose king needed somewhere to store his rice wine. The
wine was to be consumed at a great feast to celebrate an illustrious military
victory thousands of years ago.
Legend tells of an evil king, named Chao Angka, who oppressed
his people so terribly that they appealed to a good king to the north, named
Khun Jeuam, to liberate them. Khun Jeuam and his army came, and after waging a
huge battle on the plain, they defeated Chao Angka.
One Explanation - Catching Rainwater
Some specialists claim that the effort required to have made so
many jars suggests they were designed to capture rainwater during monsoon
season and later boiling it for use by caravans passing through the region.
The Plain of Jars as an Extensive
Burial Site
That is one alternative, however most archaeologists believe
that the jars were used as funerary urns. Excavations have supported this interpretation with the
discovery of human remains, burial goods, and ceramics around the stone jars.
It is believed that the jars were used to place the corpses of
deceased people - they were left inside the jars to decompose or ‘distill’, a
practice that has been common in Thailand and Laos, but usually in pits. It is believed that the
bodies were left in the jars for the soft tissue to decompose and the body to
dry out before being cremated. Once they had been cremated, the ashes would have been returned to the urns, or perhaps
buried in a sacred place, freeing the jars for re-use to decompose another
body.
Other Recent Findings at the Plain of
Jars
In 2016, archaeologists Dougald O’Reilly and Nicholas Skopal,
from the Australian National University, and colleagues announced their discovery
of 15 new sites containing 137 new examples of the more than 1500-year-old
massive jars.
The new sites show that the distribution of the jars is wider
than previously thought. This research brings the total number of jars to over 400, which strongly
suggests to the team of archaeologists that “there may be thousands more spread
across the entire site”.
Recent digs have also revealed 18 more examples of human remains, of which
over 60% were infants or babies. Researchers have also established that almost half of the
children had died when they were in early infancy or still fetuses.
A team of researchers from the University of Melbourne, who
excavated a popular part of the Plain of Jars, known as ‘Site 1,’ support the
idea of it having been primarily used for burial practices. Lead author Louise
Shewan told IFL Science that “Site 1 contained three types of mortuary ritual practices: secondary burial of human bone, secondary burial of
human remains in buried ceramic jars, and for the first time, a primary burial of two individuals”.
Speaking on the diversity of burial styles, Dougald
O’Reilly said: “Our research, while in preliminary stages, has revealed a
wide range of mortuary practices. Such diversity of practice in disposal of the dead is uncommon
in one culture... there may be several explanations for this diversity and we
hope to establish why this is the case.
Researchers have also found beautifully-carved discs with
geometrical images of concentric circles, human figures, and animals, all of
which were discovered buried with their decorated sides positioned face-down.
Some researchers claim they are probably burial markers. However, as noted above, most of the human deposits were made
much later than the jars were created.
Very Real Dangers at the Plain of
Jars
There are still many mysteries surrounding the Plain of Jars,
but unfortunately archaeological work is slowed by the fact that this is one of
the most dangerous archaeological sites in the world.
There are literally thousands of tons of unexploded bombs, land mines, and other unexploded military ordnance scattered
over the plains. These munitions contaminate more than 35% of the province's
total land area and continue to threaten the lives of the 200,000 people who
now live in Xieng Khouang.
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