Located on a plateau in central Laos, the Plain of Jars gets its name from the over 2000 tubular-shaped megalithic stone jars used for funerary practices in the Iron Age. Divided into 15 components, the property contains large carved stone jars, stone discs, tombstones, secondary burials, quarries and funerary objects dating from 500 BCE to 500 CE. The Jars are the most prominent evidence of the Iron Age civilization that made and used them until its disappearance.
The sites are considered a “serial property” consisting of two or more unconnected related areas. Located on hill slopes and spurs surrounding the central plateau, the well-crafted jars required technological skill to produce and move from the quarry locations to the funeral sites. The property was proposed to be inscribed under criterion (iii), being an exceptional testimony to an Iron Age civilization. The distribution of the sites is thought to be associated with overland routes at the historical crossroads between the Mun-Mekong and the Red River/Gulf of Tonkin systems.
Picture Credit : Google
