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An ancient site in Laos, known as the Plain of Jars, is finally beginning to give up its secrets, as the first major excavation effort since the 1930s digs into its mysteries.
Strewn over hundreds of square miles in central Laos, thousands of ceramic jars ranging from three to nine feet in height pepper the landscape, scattered in clusters of anywhere between one and 400 individual pieces.
[...] And while the specific function of these jars is still to be determined, those involved in the most recent work have their theories.
One such theory is that the pots were actually used for decomposition, as lead researcher Dougald O'Reilly of Australian National University in Canberra explained in a statement.
The professor hypothesized that once the process was complete, the bones would then be buried nearby. But whatever the details, he is now convinced that the jars "were used for the disposal of the dead."
Wikipedia says, "[Grave sites] are one of the chief sources of information on prehistoric cultures, and numerous archaeological cultures are defined by their burial customs."
What does it say about ancient cultures in Laos that they put their dead in big stone jars?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 09 2016, @04:05PM
Don't know, but I am sure they will make up loads of nonsense like they always do, publish them as "research" and argue about them like nerds do about star wars.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Gaaark on Saturday April 09 2016, @04:23PM
They should put Star Wars in one of them thar jar-jars, because the franchise died loooooooonnnngggg ago.
(Is there really an argument about this fact?)
(ridiculous smiley emoji inserted here... but really a lot fricking bigger than the old ridiculous smiley emoji (we're talking, like, planet sized here), and there would be Han Solo and Chewy emojis as well, except the Han Solo emoji died, and the Chewy emoji is suuuuuuuch a f*cking wimp!!!!!! now...
...the new bad guy emoji went away crying with my box of Kleenex....)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Sunday April 10 2016, @09:01PM
"What does it say about ancient cultures in Laos that they put their dead in big stone jars?"
that they invented canning ? ? ?