'Plain of Jars', one of the most mysterious archaeological sites, reveals its true age

[Judi Lynn]

By Tom Metcalfe - Live Science Contributor about 15 hours ago



The latest research from the Plain of Jars combines the ages of some of the stone jars with the ages of some of the burials – most of the burials were found to be much younger than the stone jars. (Image credit: Plain of Jars Archaeological Project)

The mysterious Plain of Jars in northern Laos — a landscape dotted with massive stone jars hewn from sandstone thousands of years ago — was likely used as a burial site for much longer than previously suspected, and perhaps for up to 2,000 years, according to new research.

The massive jars, which were likely used to expose the dead to the elements until only their bones were left to be buried, could be more than 3,000 years old, new tests suggest.

But the research also suggests that most of the human remains buried in the ground beside the ancient jars were interred there between 700 and 1,200 years ago.

"What we surmise from that is the enduring ritual significance of these sites," University of Melbourne archaeologist Louise Shewan told Live Science. "They were important for a very long time."

More:
https://www.livescience.com/plain-of-jars-burial-site-true-age.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Classical Music from Laos: Chiakinkouay

[ratchiweenie]

2. I've been there and it is truly spectacular

and very spiritual. It feels thousands of years old.

[Judi Lynn]

3. So sad the area was so harmed by Richard Nixon. I remember hearing the news about the bombing.

The name of the place has remained so sharply in my mind all these years, unforgettable. Such a foreign sound, as if from another galaxy!

When US Americans don't identify at all with people so far away, it doesn't seem to bother them as planes bomb the bejesus out of them, an untold thousands are destroyed, lives, bodies, spirits broken, victims who haven't the vaguest idea why it has happened.

Just found this in a quick google grab:

“[In Laos,] where a right-wing government installed by the CIA faced a rebellion, one of the most beautiful areas in the world, the Plain of Jars, was being destroyed by bombing. This was not reported by the government or the press, but an American who lived in Laos, Fred Branfman, told the story in his book Voices from the Plain of Jars.” —Howard Zinn

“A classic. . . . No American should be able to read [this book] without weeping at his country’s arrogance.” —Anthony Lewis, New York Times

Voices from the Plain of Jars—recently re-issued by the University of Wisconsin Press—first came out in 1972. Through poetry, songs, drawings, and other first-person testimony, Laotian villagers tell the story of the incessant U.S. bombing—a secret war brought to light by Fred Branfman, who collected these accounts.

In his foreword to this unique book, Alfred McCoy notes that, “By April 1973, the [U.S.] Air Force had dropped an estimated 2.1 million tons of bombs on Laos, which was the equivalent to the entire tonnage the United States dropped on industrialized Germany and Japan during the whole of World War II.”

More:
https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/voices-from-the-plain-of-jars/

Yes, the culture has to be so very old. You can tell it in the parts of the culture which still remain from ancient times. They have been so damaged. I hope the people's life will be able to mend sometime down the road.

The pictures of the jars have always been so mysterious, after having seen them in magazines for decades. It should have been a sign to our politicians these people are from a different world, and should have been respected, not treated like trash.

Have to admit to envying your opportunity to walk in that place, breathe that air, feel the wind there. It is amazing. Thank you.

[ratchiweenie]

5. It was truly wonderful. Fortunately most areas with the actual jars were not destroyed but all of

the villages surrounding it were. They were massive bombs. Being the amazingly adaptable people that they are, they took the bomb casings and made fences, barbecues, feeding troughs, watering troughs, etc. out of them. They used every bit of the metal from them. Lovely people the Lao. I've spent a lot of time in Laos and love it.

[jeffreyi]

4. 80 MILLION unexploded bombs?

How is that even possible. Fer krisesakes.