The Mysterious Plain of Megalithic Jars in Laos

[Ichingcarpenter]

The Plain of Jars in the Xieng Khouang plain of Laos is one of the most enigmatic sights on Earth. The unusual site of thousands of megalithic stone jars scattered across nearly one hundred sites deep in the mountains of northern Laos has fascinated archaeologists and scientists ever since their discovery in the 1930s.


The unusual site known as the Plain of Jars is dated to the Iron Age (500 BC to 500 AD) and is made up of at least 3,000 giant stone jars up to 3 metres tall and weighing several tonnes. Most are made of sandstone but there are others made of much harder granite and limestone.


Because 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 was wood or rattan.

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 great battle on the plain, defeated Chao Angka.






http://www.unescobkk.org/culture/wh/asia-pacific-world-heritage-site-projects/plain-of-jars/

[sofa king]

1. I know what they're for: Deforestation.

What was originally there was a lush jungle or forest thinly draped over a porous boulder field. Clearing it took out the root network that was able to capture and hold rainwater above the rocky, porous ground underneath, so crops could not survive outside of the monsoon season.

So locals hollowed out the rocks that were too big to move, brought other sandstone ones in, probably laid down a flat rock "floor" around the jars, and put dirt over that in an attempt to keep water from seeping into the ground.

The jars would fill with water during the monsoon--perhaps helped by cramming each jar with palm fronds to grab water from outside of the jar's narrow lip. Then it would be covered to keep mosquitoes from breeding and distributed during the dry season to grow some sort of a crop. The need for all that water might suggest rice, but the terrain does not.

That's my guess, cribbed from Jared Diamond and his chapter on the Mayans, who had an identical problem in a different rocky jungle.

Edit: I realize that the article suggests they were burial jars and that human remains were found in them. All that tells me is that these people pissed someone off, who came in, killed 'em all, and fouled their water jars forever by dumping the bodies in them. After that, they surely did become burial jars!

[aquart]

2. Interesting theory.

I love their ingenuity.

[sofa king]

3. Yeah but I'm usually full of poop.

Just putting that warning out there for all to see, because if my guess is further supported in the future I'll be just as surprised as anyone else!

[aquart]

4. It never would have occurred to me so I'm really pleased I read it.

And everything is subject to further discovery and better proof.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

5. brilliant deduction

sofaking.

Makes sense.

[toby jo]

6. Wouldn't it have been easier to just plant some more trees?

I'm going with the race of giant people. Just like in Ireland, call them the cuchulain, or something like that.

[MADem]

7. I like your theory; also, your theory about the bodies as well. nt