Tag Archives: Plain of Jars

Plain of Jars could receive World Heritage status in July

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via Vientiane Times, 04 Feb 2019: Laos expects that the Plain of Jars will be listed in the the World Heritage list later this year.

Good news is expected for Laos’ Plain of Jars (Thong Hai Hin) in July when UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee meets to make a decision on the site’s status, a government official said last week.

Director General of the Heritage Department at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr Thongbay Phothisan, said that after a lot of hard work to process the necessary paperwork, he hopes the Plain of Jars will soon be listed by UNESCO as Laos’ third World Heritage Site.

Source: Vientiane Times

Categories: Laos UNESCO World Heritage

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Videos > Plain of Jars Mystery

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via Archaeology Magazine

Photojournalist Jerry Redfern recently accompanied a team of archaeologists as they excavated at the Plain of Jars in Laos. This enigmatic landscape is filled with thousands of massive stone vessels, some fashioned more than 2,500 years ago. Redfern’s video explores how the team is searching for clues about who created these mysterious jars and what they were used for. To read an in-depth feature on excavations at the Plain of Jars, go to “Letter From Laos: A Singular Landscape.”

Source: Videos > Plain of Jars Mystery | Archaeology Magazine

Categories: Laos Video

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Once-secret CIA records reveal gift of ancient stone jar

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via the Star Tribune, 01 October 2017: How a stone jar ended up in the United States during the Vietnam War.

Earlier this year, a researcher at Concordia University in St. Paul was combing through declassified CIA records and discovered an intriguing stone legacy of the Vietnam War.

At the height of the conflict, CIA Director Richard Helms received a gift from Gen. Vang Pao, leader of the Hmong forces fighting the CIA-led “secret war” in Laos.

It was a massive, ancient sandstone jar, one of hundreds that jut from the ground of the legendary Plain of Jars in northern Laos. At that time, Vang Pao’s army was fighting a bloody battle with the North Vietnamese on the plain, with U.S. bombers pounding the terrain and thousands of Laotians on the run.

Source: Once-secret CIA records reveal gift of ancient stone jar – StarTribune.com

Categories: Laos

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New burials found at the Plain of Jars

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Plain of Jar excavations. Source: AFP, via Bangkok Post 20160404

Exciting new research coming out of our colleagues from Laos and Australia: preliminary research from the Plain of Jars have uncovered burials – both primary and secondary – found in association with the massive stone jars.

Plain of Jar excavations. Source: AFP, via Bangkok Post 20160404

Plain of Jar excavations. Source: AFP, via Bangkok Post 20160404

Another piece in plain of jars puzzle placed by Lao-Australian archaeological team
Shanghai Daily, 04 March 2016

New Findings on Lao Plain of Jars Help Unravel Ancient Mysteries
VOA, 21 March 2016

Ancient burials revealed at Laos’ mysterious Plain of Jars
AFP, via Bangkok Post, 04 April 2016

Stone jars used to dispose of the dead in ancient Laos, Australian researchers say
ABC News, 04 April 2016

One of Asia’s most mysterious archaeological sites, the Plain of Jars in Laos, was used as an ancient burial ground, Australian researchers say.

The Plain of Jars in central Laos is made up of 90 sites, each containing ancient carved stone jars up to three metres tall.

Today the Australian National University (ANU) announced a team from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology had discovered human remains estimated to be 2,500 years old, shedding light on the use of the sites and jars which had been previously unknown.

Full story here.

Categories: Bones Laos Megaliths

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Drone flights over the Plain of Jars

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In September I was in Laos and I had the opportunity to visit the Plain of Jars, or at least, a few of the jar sites that dot central Laos around Xieng Khouang province. There are over 2,000 jars spread out in over 100 sites. Not all of them are accessible, because of the presence of UXOs, and several have been destroyed due to war and development.

Aerial view of the Plain of Jars Site 1

Aerial view of the Plain of Jars Site 1

The megalithic jars are somewhat unique in Southeast Asia – less known, but distinctively peculiar and in need of further study. They are associated with burials, and the jars themselves display a large variability in forms and sizes and distribution. Despite the rainy weather, I was fortunate to be able to take the UAV out for a spin over various sites:

Categories: Laos Megaliths Video

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Laos' mysterious jars to aim for World Heritage nomination by 2011

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The mysterious plain of jars in Northeastern Laos is still one of the biggest uninvestigated archaeological sites in Southeast Asia – largely uninvestigated because of the huge amount of cluster bombs dropped there by US forces 40 years ago. From what little that has been investigated, it seems that the jars were places of transition in the funerary rite where bodies were left to decompose before going through a final burial. The UNESCO-Lao project in Bangkok is aiming to nominate the plain as a World Heritage Site in 2011, but this is dependent on the amount of research to be done and the clearing of unexploded ordanance.

Jars of wonder, jars of hope
The Star, 07 Dec 2008
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Categories: Laos

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Wednesday Rojak #19

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After missing the last two weeks’ installments, Wednesday Rojak is back again this week for a mishmash of Southeast Asia and related-to-archaeology posts.

  • Pensée Libre takes us to the Banteay Srei in Angkor (site is in French)
  • The Ethnographer’s Note posts a soon-to-be published paper by Edward M. Bruner entitled “The Ethnographer, Tourist in Indonesia”.
  • Backpackers Mal and Pam make their stopover to Laos and Cambodia.
  • While Jeffrey visits the Laos National Museu, finding it a little short on artifacts, but not on scope.
  • Lilie Down Under posts something from her two nights in Sukhothai.
  • While PhD candidate Alison shows us how salt is produced in Ban Non Wat.
  • Katie visits Candi Borobudur in Java.
  • Jim visits the lesser-known Angkor temple at Koh Ker.

In this series of weekly rojaks (published on Wednesdays) I’ll feature other sites in the blogosphere that are related to Southeast Asia and archaeology in general. Got a recommendation for the next Wednesday rojak? Email me!

Categories: Angkor Borobudur Cambodia Indonesia Laos Thailand Wednesday Rojak

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