Plain of Jars
An Iron Age funerary landscape of thousands of monumental stone jars distributed across upland archaeological sites and burial contexts.
- Country
- Laos
- Region
- Xiangkhouang Province
- Civilisation
- Iron Age Laos
- Period
- c. 500 BCE–500 CE
- UNESCO
- World Heritage ↗
Through time
The story
The Plain of Jars is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau. The jars are arranged in clusters ranging in number from one to several hundred.
The Xiangkhoang Plateau is at the northern end of the Annamese Cordillera, the principal mountain range of Indochina. French researcher Madeleine Colani concluded in 1930 that the jars were associated with burial practices. Excavation by Lao and Japanese archaeologists in the intervening years has supported this interpretation with the discovery of human remains, burial goods and ceramics around the jars. Researchers (using optically stimulated luminescence) determined that the jars were put in place as early as 1240 to 660 BC.
The jars at Site 1 (using detrital zircon geochronology) were determined to have been transported to their current location from a presumed quarry eight kilometers away. The Plain of Jars is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia.
Adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.
What you will see
- Site 1 jar field
- Stone lids
- Quarry evidence
Before you go
- Check opening hours and ticket rules shortly before your visit — they change seasonally.
- Plan for the heat. Most ancient sites have little shade; go early or late.
- Respect the barriers. Fragile surfaces are protected for the next visitors.
Discoveries from Plain of Jars
No discoveries yet. Be the first to share a photo from here.
