| Abstract: |
This paper compares and contrasts the stone jars and standing stones of North Laos with other stone artefacts in South Asia and Island Southeast Asia. The Plain of Jars is a series of archaeological sites located in the Xieng Khouang and Luang Prabang Provinces of North Laos. To date, around 80 sites have been documented, populated with megaliths attributed to the Late Iron Age of Southeast Asia. Some of these sites were surveyed in 1931-1933 by Madeleine Colani. Her 1935 monograph Mégalithes du Haut-Laos (Megaliths of Upper Laos), remains a work of reference not only for the stone jars, but also for the standing stones of Hua Phan Province, which she surveyed in the early 1930s. Though megaliths have also been documented in Indias northeast region, as well as in Island Southeast Asia (Sumatra and Sulawesi), the Laotian jars are a unique development in terms of size and quantity. The terracotta burial urns of Sa Huynh in Vietnam are not megaliths but are discussed as part of the overall comparative analysis.
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