RP184 The Plain of Jars

 RP184 The Plain of Jars

Laos (or Lao PDR) is a calm, green oasis between other bigger, faster, and stronger nations. Near the center of this quiet country is a quiet mystery—the beautiful, unexplainable Plain of Jars.

The Plain of Jars refers to more than 90 areas within Lao's Xieng Khouang province. The sites are mostly the same: there are the green, rolling hills of Laos. There are mountains in the distance. In the fields, sunk into the grass or tipped onto their sides, are many giant jars. The jars seem to have lids, though the lids have all disappeared over the centuries. There are also a few flat stone plates carved with animals.

Why were large, heavy stone jars—some larger than a man and with thick, rough sides—scattered across the fields in this place? There are local legends and different scientific theories. Local legend holds that the jars stored lao-lao (rice whisky) for a group of giants who lived there. According to that legend, the jars aren't made of stone, but clay, and were fired in a huge cave oven.

Most current experts seem to think the jars were for funerals, to hold the ashes of the dead. It's also possible the jars were used to store rain water for travelers. There is no indication of who built them or why. We only have a rough idea of when: the Iron Age, 500 BC to AD 500.

It seems appropriate to have this quiet mystery in this quiet country. The jars perhaps reflect the beauty of the country: simple, natural, rough, and charming.