Laos, a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, is home to one of the most bizarre historical spectacles archeologists have ever laid eyes on.
Spanning hundreds of square kilometers of rugged grassland is the Plain of Jars, so called because of the 3,000 massive, hollow stone vessels scattered across the land -- some weighing up to 30 tons and measuring up to ten feet in height.
The Plain incorporates numerous mountain ridges, forests, and fields north of the Lao capital, Vientiane. In addition to the local Laotian people, these lands are stalked by tigers and other hidden dangers.
The locals have long known about the Plain of Jars, but their relatively recent western discovery in the early 20th Century prompted archeologists to try and solve the puzzle of these mysterious stone vessels.
French archeologists were among the first westerners to study the jars. One named Henri Parmentier noted that, while most of the jars were empty, some still contained items such as ceramic pots, small weapons, and odd trinkets, including glass beads, bronze jewelry, and children’s teeth. It was also noted that several contained remnants of human bones.
Close inspection finds a few of the jars adorned with primitive carvings of human faces and figures. Laying amongst the monolithic jars are circular disks of stone, presumably lids, which, according to UNESCO, are "also sometimes carved with representations of humans, tigers or monkeys."
One of the enormous jars features an odd “frogman” carving, a possible reference to - or relative of - the frogman painting at Huashan, China, which contains some of the oldest known cave paintings.
Archeologists initially estimated the jars to be some 2,000 years old, which would make them products of the Iron Age. However, a recent study published in 2021 has revealed that they may in fact be more than 3,000 years old.
While their true origins and purpose have baffled many academics, historians and anthropologists, the locals have their own explanations.
