| Abstract: |
This article is an account of an archaeological research project at Lao Pako, a late prehistoric site on the banks of the Nam Ngum river. It is a story of how the remains of iron, pottery, and infant burials from AD 350-600 have started to challenge what was previously taken for granted about this period of time, the Iron Age, in mainland Southeast Asia. What appeared at a first glance to be a minor jar burial site with a touch of small-scale metal industry and textile production, gradually demanded more complex interpretations. Today Lao Pako is understood as a place for late prehistoric rituals that were manifestations of ideas about life and death, about what it can mean to 'be in the world'. Lao Pako is not only a metal production site, nor is it merely a burial ground. In its ritual embracing of both, it can be described as a comment on life.
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