"Pokekea Megalithic Site The Pokekea Megalithic Site is a megalithic archaeological site in the Lore Lindu National Park. It is located in the Behoa (Besoa) Valley northwest of Bada Valley. The Behoa valley is notable for its preserved kalambas, megaliths shaped like large cylindrical stone vats. The kalambas served as communal funerary urns and resemble in form and function the monuments on the Plain of Jars in Laos. At Pokekea there are 27 kalambas, together with decorated stone lids and statues (Indonesian: ""arcas""). A kalamba at the park entrance is decorated by faces arranged in a strip along its outer"
"intervening years has supported this interpretation with the discovery of human remains, burial goods and ceramics around the jars. The Plain of Jars is dated to the Iron Age (500 BC to AD 500) and is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Southeast Asia. More than 90 jar sites have been identified within Xiangkhouang Province. Each site has from one to 400 stone jars. The jars vary in height and diameter between 1m and 3m and are all hewn from rock. Their shape is cylindrical with the bottom always wider than the top. The stone jars are undecorated,"
"proposed for listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Monument. While the origin of the Plain of Jars' people is unknown, the recorded history of Xieng Khouang is interlinked with the Tai Phuan. As an ancient civilization, its prehistory is linked to the enigmatic megalithic stone jars of the Plain of Jars (with prehistoric material recorded to the period of even 2000 BC, with Iron Age period of 500 BC and 500–800 AD period dominating the archaeological finds) representing burial grounds of ritualistic practices with extended history spread from Angkor period to the Hindu and Buddhist religious impacts. The Tai Phuan"
"An Province, Quảng Bình Province and Hạ Long Bay in Vietnam and Plain of Jars in Laos. Colani is the source for today's understanding of the megalithic stone jars on the Plain of Jars, investigating and arguing ""convincingly"" that they were urns, used in funerary rites. Her 1930 work on the subject, ""The Megaliths of Upper Laos"", is Colani's ""great contribution to archaeological literature"". In 1929, she worked for École française d'Extrême-Orient. She died in 1943 in Hanoi. Madeleine Colani Madeleine Colani (August 13, 1866 – June 2, 1943) was a French archaeologist. Colani was ""a pioneering fieldworker who combined"
"gathering remained an important aspect of food provision; particularly in forested and mountainous inland areas. Earliest known copper and bronze production in Southeast Asia has been confirmed at the site of Ban Chiang in modern north-east Thailand and among the Phung Nguyen culture of northern Vietnam since around 2000 BCE. From the 8th century BCE to as late as the 2nd century CE an inland trading society emerged on the Xieng Khouang Plateau, around the megalithic site called the Plain of Jars. The Plain, nominated to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 is still being cleared"
"Cambodia, Iran, Syria, Sumatra, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vanuatu, and Vietnam. These differing locations call for different methods, accoutrements, and rationales behind the jar burial practices. Cultural practices ranged from primary versus secondary burial, burial offerings (bronze/iron tools, weapons and bronze/silver/gold ornaments, wood, stone, clay, glass, and paste) in/around burials, and hierarchical structures represented in the location/method of the placement of jars. Among many cultures, a period of waiting occurs between the first burial and a second burial that often coincides with the duration of decomposition. The origin of this practice is considered to be the different concept"
"network of intentionally placed largely unworked stones marking elaborate burial pits and chambers are known as ""standing stones of Huaphan"". These have been dated to the Bronze Age. The jars lie in clusters on the lower footslopes and mountain ridges of the hills surrounding the central plateau and upland valleys. Several quarry sites have been recorded, usually close to the jar sites. Five rock types have been identified: sandstone, granite, conglomerate, limestone and breccia. The majority of the jars are sandstone. It is assumed that Plain of Jars' people used iron chisels to manufacture the jars, although no conclusive evidence"
"province. The tourism department of Laos has listed 63 sites of which 32 are natural sites, 18 are cultural sites, and are 13 historical sites. Of these some of the important sites are the following. The most prominent and popular sites are Plain of Jars which consist of urns of large stone of height varying from . They are found throughout the province at many locations throughout the provinces in bunches of 300 jars at each location. Archaeological studies have been carried out at many sites, which indicate that these were funerary sites of Bronze and Iron Age (2,000 to"
"the jar sites may reflect a network of intercultural villages, whereby the locations of the jars are associated with long-distance overland routes which connect the Mekong basin and the Gulf of Tonkin System. The jar sites show superficial regional differences, such as jar form, material, and the number of jars per site. But all share common setting characteristics such as burial practices, elevated locations, and commanding views over the surrounding area. The most investigated and visited Jar site is located close to the town of Phonsavan, and is known as Site 1. Seven jar sites have now been cleared of"
"structures feature engravings, and the area is a World Heritage Site. Megaliths are also found within the Valley of Marvels in the East Hararghe area. Megalithic burials are found in Northeast and Southeast Asia. They are found mainly in the Korean Peninsula. They are also found in the Liaoning, Shandong, and Zhejiang in China, the East Coast of Taiwan, Kyūshū and Shikoku in Japan, Đồng Nai Province in Vietnam and South Asia. Some living megalithic traditions are found on the island of Sumba and Nias in Indonesia. The greatest concentration of megalithic burials is in Korea. Archaeologists estimate that there"
"jars (also known as ""tempajan"", ""kendi"", ""balanga"", ""belanga"", or ""blanga"") in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei were also used primarily for water storage, fermentation, and cooking. ""Tapayan"" as well as other more specialized urns, are also used as funerary jars in ancient Austronesian cultures. They are used to store the skeletal remains of deceased people. The oldest example of which is the ornate Manunggul Jar, dated 890-710 BCE, from the Tabon Caves of Palawan, Philippines. ""Martaban"" glazed stoneware were usually imported. They were originally stoneware made in Southern China from at least the Han dynasty period (206 BCE - 220 CE),"
"iron ore resources and has been inhabited since the Bronze Age (the Plain of Jars is an important UNESCO archeological site). The region is an important area for trade as it occupies the major passes along the Annamite Cordillera to access Vietnam and the coast. The Tai Phuan or Phuan people are a Buddhist Tai-Lao ethnic group that migrated to the area which is now Laos during the 13th century. According to legend the Phuan people were led by Chet Chuong, the second son of Khun Borom who founded the city-state of Muang Phuan. In the mid-14th century Muang Phuan"
"from unexploded ordnance since 1998. The jars are stone sarcophagi, date from the early Iron Age (500 BCE to 800 CE) and contained evidence of human remains, burial goods and ceramics. Some sites contain more than 250 individual jars. The tallest jars are more than in height. Little is known about the culture which produced and used the jars. The jars and the existence of iron ore in the region suggest that the creators of the site engaged in profitable overland trade. The first indigenous kingdom to emerge in Indochina was referred to in Chinese histories as the Kingdom of"
"the Xiangkhoang. Altitudes within the plateau area may reach 1000 m. Several tributaries of the Mekong drain in the plateau, such as the Nam Ngum, Ngiap and the Khan River. The major town in the area is the capital of Phonsavan. The plateau gives its name to present-day Xiangkhouang Province in which Phonsavan is located. The plateau is the location of the Plain of Jars, which is a collective name for several sites with funerary archeological remains nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status. The plateau is also one of the most heavily contaminated areas in the world from unexploded cluster"
"Jar burial Jar burials are human burials where the corpse is placed into a large earthenware and then is interred. Jar-burials are a repeated pattern at a site or within an archaeological culture. When an anomalous burial is found in which a corpse or cremated remains have been interred, it is not considered a ""jar burial"". Jar burial can be traced to various regions across the globe. It is noted to have been practiced as early as BCE 900, and as recent as CE 15-17th centuries Particular areas of studies on jar burial excavations include India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Palestine,Taiwan, Japan,"
"millennium BC. This pottery is handmade, of simple design and with thick sides, and treated with a vegetable solvent. There are clay figures, zoomorphic or anthropomorphic, including figures of pregnant women which are taken to be fertility goddesses, similar to the Mother Goddess of later Neolithic cultures in the same region. Jarmo Jarmo (Qal'at Jarmo) is a prehistoric archeological site located in Iraq and Sittard on the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. It lies at an altitude of 800 m above sea-level in a belt of oak and pistachio woodlands. Excavations revealed that Jarmo was an agricultural community dating back"
"The Megaliths of Upper Laos The Megaliths of Upper Laos (orig. French: ""Les Megaliths du Haut Laos"") is a 1930 work of archaeology by Madeleine Colani, examining and cataloging approximately ten thousand megaliths in Upper Laos. Prior to Colani's work, the megaliths were considered among the more mysterious megaliths. Colani, after reviewing the Plain of Jars for decades, cataloged the megaliths and argued ""convincingly"" in ""The Megaliths of Upper Laos"" that they were urns, used in Bronze Age funerary rites. ""The Megaliths of Upper Laos"", a two-volume, 600-page work that both cataloged and described the artifacts, and presented Colani's theories"
"2,500 years old) period megaliths. The nearest location of these urns from Phonsavanh is the Jar Site 1, with an area of 25 ha. The largest jar found here is of size 2.5m x 2.5m, while the rest are half this size. One jar has decorations on it. Muang Khoun is the capital of the ancient Phuan Kingdom of the 14th Century. It is accessed to and via the southeast of Phonsavanh. At the Wat Piawat Temple, destroyed during the conflicts of the First Indochina War (from 1946 until 1954) and the subsequent one that soon followed, the ruins of"
"on the history of the Plain of Jars culture, as well as its modern history during the 1964–1975 conflict. The Lao PDR government is considering applying for status as a UNESCO World Heritage site for the Plain of Jars. The Lao-UNESCO Program for ""Safeguarding the Plain of Jars"" has been an ongoing effort by UNESCO and the Lao government to document and rehabilitate the Plain of Jars. Clearing the remaining bomb hazards must be done before the sites can be further studied and developed for tourism. One of the main objectives is community-based involvement in the management and conservation of"
"the basis for subsequent theories and controversies. Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; , meaning ""Crown of the Palaces"") is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658), to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan, the builder. The tomb is the centerpiece of a complex, which includes a mosque and a guest house, and is set in formal gardens bounded on three sides"
"Minaret of Jam The Minaret of Jam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in western Afghanistan. It is located in a remote and nearly inaccessible region of the Shahrak District, Ghor Province, next to the Hari River. The or high minaret was built around 1190 entirely of baked bricks and is famous for its intricate brick, stucco and glazed tile decoration, which consists of alternating bands of kufic and naskhi calligraphy, geometric patterns, and verses from the Qur'an. Since 2002, the minaret has remained on the list of World Heritage in Danger, under serious threat of erosion, and has not"
"are 15,000 to 100,000 southern megaliths in the Korean Peninsula. Typical estimates hover around the 30,000 mark for the entire peninsula, which in itself constitutes some 40% of all dolmens worldwide (see Dolmen). Northeast Asian megalithic traditions originated in northeast China, in particular the Liao River basin. The practice of erecting megalithic burials spread quickly from the Liao River Basin and into the Korean Peninsula, where the structure of megaliths is geographically and chronologically distinct. The earliest megalithic burials are called ""northern"" or ""table-style"" because they feature an above-ground burial chamber formed by heavy stone slabs that form a rectangular"
"nearby Plain of Jars, which has been nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status. The main economic activity in Phonsavan is based on government administration, mining companies from China and Australia, tourism, and the work of NGOs related to clearing unexploded ordnance. Xiangkhouang is widely known for the Plain of Jars. The province's climate is characterized by warm or hot days and cold nights. Xiangkhouang's scenery includes the highest mountains in the country (Mount Phou Bia), pine forests, deciduous woodlands, hills, and grasslands. In the cold season the green hills of the Plain of Jars turn reddish brown giving it a"
"elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Thus, many archaeologists from Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Indonesia gained interest on this initial find and a number of archaeological - either government or privately sponsored - excavations have been conducted to recover these artifacts. These jars have characteristics that belong to the Developed Metal Age Period in the Philippines [calibrated date of 190 BC to 500 AD]. According to the laboratory results determined through radiocarbon dating, these secondary burial jars date back to the Metal Age. Two conventional dates were 1830 +/-60 B.P. [calibrated date of AD 70 to 370] and 1920"
"caravan travelers along their journey at times when rain may have been seasonal and water was not readily available on the easiest footpaths. Rainwater would then be boiled, even if stagnant, to become potable again, a practice long understood in Eastern Eurasia. The trade caravans that camped around these jars could have placed beads inside them as offerings, accompanying prayers for rain. Or the beads might simply have been unassociated lost items. Between 1964 and 1973, the Plain of Jars was heavily bombed by the U.S. Air Force (see Secret War) operating against North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao communist forces."
"as to their origin and use, has been described as Colani's ""great contribution to archaeological literature"". The book brought the megaliths to the broader attention of the Western public and scholarly community. The Megaliths of Upper Laos The Megaliths of Upper Laos (orig. French: ""Les Megaliths du Haut Laos"") is a 1930 work of archaeology by Madeleine Colani, examining and cataloging approximately ten thousand megaliths in Upper Laos. Prior to Colani's work, the megaliths were considered among the more mysterious megaliths. Colani, after reviewing the Plain of Jars for decades, cataloged the megaliths and argued ""convincingly"" in ""The Megaliths of"
"erosion. The Plain of Jars has extensive gravel and silt terraces from the Quaternary, including loess and volcanic ash. The Mekong River which transported the eroded material may have followed a different course because sediments are primarily shallow and Holocene in age beneath the present course of the river. Thick basalt lavas extruded onto Mesozoic sandstone at the Bolovens Plateau east of Pakse during the Pleistocene. The Truong Son and Luang Prabang structures converge in northern Laos, bordered by northwest trending fault-bounded structures such as Phu Hoat Massif. The Song Ma Anticlinorium near Vietnam exposes Proterozoic basement rock at the"
"Tham An Mah Tham An Mah, (""Horse Saddle Cave"") is an archaeological site located in the Luang Prabang Province of Laos. The site was initially excavated in 2010 by a joint team of the Middle Mekong Archaeological Project and the ""Department of Heritage of Laos"". Perhaps most important is the site's status as one of the stone jar burial sites from iron age Laos, the most famous of which is the Plain of Jars. Test excavations in 2010 included two trenches. Finds from trench B included a circular stone disk, possibly made of limestone or a similar material. The initial"
"Manunggul Jar The Manunggul Jar is a secondary burial jar excavated from a Neolithic burial site in the Manunggul cave of the Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point in Palawan. It dates from 890–710 B.C. and the two prominent figures at the top handle of its cover represent the journey of the soul to the afterlife. The Manunggul Jar is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest Philippine pre-colonial artworks ever produced and is considered a masterpiece of Philippine ceramics. It is listed as a national treasure and designated as item 64-MO-74 by the National Museum of the Philippines. It"
"Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Indonesia gained interest on this initial find and a number of archaeological - either government or privately sponsored - excavations have been conducted to recover these artifacts. These jars have characteristics that belong to the Developed Metal Age Period in the Philippines [calibrated date of 190 BC to 500 AD]. According to the laboratory results determined through radiocarbon dating, these secondary burial jars date back to the Metal Age. Two conventional dates were 1830 +/-60 B.P. [calibrated date of AD 70 to 370] and 1920 +/- 50 B.P. [calibrated date of 5 BC to 225 AD]."
"Chinese imperial scholars and rulers. Burma (Myanmar) and Guatemala are the principal sources of modern gem jadeite. In the area of Mogaung in the Myitkyina District of Upper Burma, jadeite formed a layer in the dark-green serpentine, and has been quarried and exported for well over a hundred years. Canada provides the major share of modern lapidary nephrite. Nephrite jade was used mostly in pre-1800 China as well as in New Zealand, the Pacific Coast and the Atlantic Coast of North America, Neolithic Europe, and Southeast Asia. In addition to Mesoamerica, jadeite was used by Neolithic Japanese and European cultures."
"A visitors centre was opened on 13 August 2013. It is at the bottom of the hill 200m before Plain of Jars Site 1. It contains good quality English language information panels on the history of the Plain of Jars culture, as well as its modern history during the 1964–1975 conflict. Today UNESCO, Helvetas, DED, the local government and villagers are working together to develop and protect the jar sites, while aiming to achieve UNESCO World Heritage status. While the origin of the Plain of Jars people is unknown, the recorded history of Xiangkhouang is interlinked with the Tai Phuan."
"are ancient megaliths carved with symbols that can be found all over central and eastern Eurasia but are concentrated largely in Siberia and Mongolia. Most deer stones occur in association with ancient graves; it is believed that stones are the guardians of the dead. Out of 900 of these deer stones found in Central Asia and Siberia, around 700 are located in Mongolia. Their true purpose and creators are still unknown. Some researchers claim that deer stones are rooted in shamanism and are thought to have been set up during the Bronze Age around 1000 BC, and may mark the"