Excavating among the megaliths: recent research at the ‘Plain of Jars’ site 1 in Laos

Title:  Excavating among the megaliths: recent research at the ‘Plain of Jars’ site 1 in Laos

By:  Dougald O'Reilly, Louise Shewan, Kate Domett, Siȃn E. Halcrow, Thonglith Luangkhoth

Publisher, year:  Cambridge University Press, 2019

Issue:  Volume 93, Issue 370, August 2019 , pp. 970-989

Abstract: 

The date and significance of the megalithic jar sites of central Laos are comparatively poorly understood features of the Southeast Asian archaeological landscape. First explored systematically in the 1930s, only limited research on these sites has been undertaken since. This article presents the recent excavations at Ban Ang—or site 1—a megalithic jar site of nearly 400 jars, located in Xieng Khouang Province. The results confirm the findings of earlier research, but additionally reveal a range of mortuary practices, high rates of infant and child mortality, and new evidence dating these interments to the ninth to thirteenth centuries AD.

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