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The Plain of Jars: Bombs & Mystery in Laos[Graphics Warning]
Dark Roasted Blend ^ | Feb 2008 | Avi Abrams & Chris Mitchell

Posted on 10/24/2009 11:03:38 AM PDT by BGHater

Built by mysterious ancient people for mysterious purposes


(image credit: Chris Mitchell)

Ancient Laos legends tell of the giants who drank water from these enormous mysterious "cups". Similar sites were also found in Thailand and in North India. Their locations are strung along a straight line, which suggests that they were built on some kind of a trade route.




Chris Mitchell from Travel Happy sent us his travelogue about this ancient site:

The Plain Of Jars is probably South East Asia’s most enigmatic tourist attraction. Situated in the remote north east of Laos, the mountainous communist country which has only been open to tourists for just over a decade, are hundreds of huge stone jars scattered across several square miles.






(images credit: Chris Mitchell)


Jars of a deeply spooky nature

While most ancient Asian sites, such as the Angkor temples in Cambodia, have revealed many of their secrets, historians are still completely baffled as to where the jars came from, how old they are and what they signify. They are, in short, jars of a deeply spooky nature.





There are three key sites to see the Jars, three places where they are clustered together en masse, but there are apparently over 400 locations where they are to be found scattered across the plain.






(images credit: Chris Mitchell)


Gathered together at the top of this hill, there were around 130 of them scattered about beneath the trees, mercifully undeveloped by any tourist organization. Undisturbed amongst the vast wheat yellow and sky blue horizon of the countryside, the jars did indeed seem mysterious, but there was also a sense of serenity too.





They were all at least a couple of metres long, and must have weighed several tonnes each, some upright, some leaning after being embedded in the ground, some completely toppled over:





All of them are virtually black, and their tall, narrow, hefty bodies make them look like crude cannons, pointing in every direction as if fearing attack from all sides. The darkness of the jars’ stone also makes them seem distinctly funereal and a little sinister:



(image credit: David Hartstone)


The largest jar weighs around 6 metric tons:


(image credit: Keith Kelly)


On top of its mystery, the place may be riddled with unexploded bombs

Whatever its ancient history, the Plain Of Jars has had a turbulent recent past. Thanks to its proximity to the North Vietnamese border, this area of Laos became of key significance during the Vietnam War and so was carpet bombed by the Americans. Laos holds the dubious record of being the most bombed country in the world, despite never officially being involved in the Vietnam war at all. The legacy of the war is still being felt, with farmers and their families regularly being killed or injured by the unexploded ordnance which still litters the Plain. The Jars have been fully cleared of all unexploded bombs, but not straying from the designated paths remains imperative.




(images credit: GothPhil)


The lids for these jars are also quite mysterious looking. They have as much texture and ancient feel to them as Stonehenge.





(images credit: Keith Kelly)



(image credit: Chris Mitchell)


Some of them are filled with miniature Buddhas: which somehow feels very appropriate:


(image credit: Keith Kelly)


Speaking of the Stonehenge:

Another Stonehenge Found Deep in Amazon Forest

That's right, mysterious huge stones set in a definite pattern - an astrological observatory possibly 2,000 years old - have been discovered in the Amazon basin near French Guiana... (more info)


(image credit: Gilmar Nascimento / AP)


The site consists of 127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet (2.75 meters) tall. The stones placed at "regular intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter."




Scientists believe the site near the village of Calcoene, just north of the equator in Amapa state in far northern Brazil, could have been built by the ancestors of the Palikur Indians, and could be as old as 2,000 years.


(image courtesy Academy For Future Science, Brazil)


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; history; india; laos; megalith; plainofjars
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To: colorado tanker

Could be burials (there’s some sign of that), or could have been some kind of commercial site, and the jars were later reused for burials.


21 posted on 10/25/2009 6:44:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: BGHater

Obviously, the jars are the remnants of a prehistoric Government Works Project.


22 posted on 10/25/2009 9:07:34 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: Grimmy
Obviously, the jars are the remnants of a prehistoric Government Works Project.

Burial jars?
23 posted on 10/25/2009 9:15:21 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: aruanan

“Burial jars?”

Looks more like the origin of the Pork Barrel to me.


24 posted on 10/25/2009 10:26:17 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: Grimmy
Looks more like the origin of the Pork Barrel to me.

Maybe it was a prehistoric equivalent to a giant kimchee factory.
25 posted on 10/26/2009 4:51:28 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: TribalPrincess2U

Giant Beer mugs


26 posted on 10/26/2009 5:05:52 AM PDT by bmwcyle (We need more Joe Wilson's. OBAMA is ACORN ACORN is OBAMA)
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To: SunkenCiv
The Plain would be a route from the pre-Khmer territory to Chinese controlled Vietnam, although I would guess most of that trade would go down the Mekong and then by sea.

If I had to make a bet it would be burial with some religious significance. I don't know what kind of beliefs these people had. IIRC, this was a time before the modern Laotians had arrived and this was a little north of the Hindu-influenced area.

27 posted on 10/26/2009 9:23:26 AM PDT by colorado tanker (Mr. Flyingsaucerballoonboymediawhoreman - this Bud's for you!)
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To: colorado tanker

Thanks CT.


28 posted on 10/26/2009 3:19:54 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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