The Plain of Jars Mystery

The war in Vietnam had Forward Observers in Laos that frequented the area and viewing them from the air these were a great visual reference to their location.

They were used for multiple purposes across the ages but their origin remains the mystery!

For those who subscribe to the Ancient Austronauts Theory, this location and its egnimatic structures may be further evidences. To figure out those structures, look at what the area contains.

1. According to geological studies, that area contains metallic minerals such as iron ores from hydrothemal activities nearby. Metal, as we know, had been a vital resource to construct societal habitat infrastructures.

2. This location is a medow gentle rolling land as compared to its stark nearby surrondings of high forested hills and mountains. It is an open landscape, an oasis for aerial operations with vertical lift/take off crafts..

To support such aerial operations and into the night, light sources are needed to create ground markers for aerial commanders to recognise its locations or signals.

That location is windy, thus lighted branches would not work well. There jars were of sandstone construction, were easily and cheaply created should one lack resources and need to start or recreate a civilisation anew.
In summary, those jars were used as light beacons.

3. Such beacons are not new in terms of pre-history usage. The Nazca lines comes into memory. However, the Nazca lines were made on dry desert type landscape. But the Plain of Jars area are heavily vegetated area, and any lines drawn would be quickly erased with the next season of rains.

4. Overtime, as had happened to all pre-history structures, its use was converted into other purposes.

Just a hypothesis. I could be wrong or may be right. There is unfortunately, no evidence to support either way, except to look into the broader world-wide picture to come to a conclusion.....

reply to post by TV_Nation
Hiya and thanks for posting this thread.

I've never heard of these things before and think they look amazing. Imagine the eeriness of a moonlit night in the midst of these many jars? As I've been reading up on the academic findings, it's pretty clear they were a form of cemetery. Again, I wonder what it was like to cross the landscape 2000 years ago and see these objects in their original condition.

The jars or urns tend to be supported by granite blocks at their bases. Beneath them have been found bones and grave goods...beads etc. Test pits have been dug at various locations of the 'Ban Ang' landscape and revealed more bone fragments and grave goods. This strongly suggests the area was a cemetery, a couple of researchers suspect it could go back 3000 years after finding bronze age artifacts in the test pits.

Funeral practices varied in the area and over time. Cremation and burials happened at one time or other at Ban Ang. The bodies from within the jars were 'defleshed' first. The burials around the jars are speculated to be family members. Some of the buried urns have been burned around the bases to cremate the bones inside.

A separate study researched phytoliths (old plant matter/ pollens) took samples from inside and beneath some of the jars to understand the landscape at the time. They found a lush place with cultivated rice, bananas and palms.

The mystery of the culture behind their creation remains for one reason...human nature! There's an account from 1875 that describes how an armed band systematically looted them. The absent coverings/lids is maybe explained by this? The area is also littered with thousands and thousands of unexploded ordinance dropped by the US in the 60s.

Archaeological Research in Laos.pdf