Plain of Jars (Xiengkhouang megalithic jars)
Llanura de las Jarras (jarras megalíticas de Xiengkhouang)
- Date
- c. 500 BCE-500 CE · confidence low
- Place
- Thong Hai Hin (Site 1), Phonsavan, Xiengkhouang, Laos
- Credited to
- Iron Age peoples of Xiengkhouang
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Thousands of large stone jars, up to about three metres tall, carved from sandstone and spread over hundreds of sites, linked to funerary rituals with cremations. It is one of Asia's largest megalithic complexes and a World Heritage site (2019).
Madeleine Colani studied them in 1930-1935 and proposed a funerary function; dating rests on few radiocarbon and OSL dates (about 500 BC-AD 500), and the exact purpose is still debated. Many local legends are modern.
What it led to
- study of Iron Age society in mainland Southeast Asia
- problems with unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War in the area
- tourism and heritage in Laos