via ANU/Eureka News, 06 June 2019: (re?)Discovery of 15 more jar sites in Xiengkhouang province.

ANU and Uni of Melbourne Archaeologists have discovered 15 new sites in Laos containing more than one hundred 1000-year-old massive stone jars possibly used for the dead.

The jars of Laos are one of archaeology’s enduring mysteries. Experts believe they were related to disposal of the dead, but nothing is known about the jars’ original purpose and the people who brought them there.

The new finds show the distribution of the jars was more widespread than previously thought and could unlock the secrets surrounding their origin.

The sites, deep in remote and mountainous forest and containing 137 jars, were identified by ANU PhD student Nicholas Skopal with officials from the Lao government.

“These new sites have really only been visited by the occasional tiger hunter. Now we’ve rediscovered them, we’re hoping to build a clear picture about this culture and how it disposed of its dead,” said Mr Skopal.

Source: More mysterious jars of the dead unearthed in Laos | EurekAlert! Science News