The Plain Truth?

The main purpose of a visit to Phonsavan is to see the Plain of Jars, which is actually spread across multiple sites. It basically consists of fields filled with large, multi-ton, stone jars that are more than a meter tall. On my tour of three of these sites, my tour guide explained that everything I was about to hear was myth and speculation, because no one really knows where they came from, how old they are, or what they were used for.



The local myth says that the majority of the jars were used to hold the remains of cremated bodies and that the smaller ones with lips on the top were used for making wine. My tour guide’s grandparents told him that the jars were all whole prior to the 2nd Indochina War, but some are now damaged. MAG has spent much time clearing this area of landmines, as the plains were the site of many battles.


The belief is that the jars are of three construction methods, as shown in the picture below (clockwise from bottom left): carved from a boulder, quarried from a rock hill, and molded from clay and baked.

Some of the jars had lids, but as you can see, this lid is probably not the original one for this jar.

At the second site, there were several jars that had trees growing out of them. Ah, the power of nature. Given enough time, nature always seems to prevail over the man-made. I guess it is a matter of tenacity.

This was also a great spot for some peaceful views overlooking the fields.

The interesting thing about the third site, other than the walk across the dry rice patties, is a lack of available rock from which to quarry the stone for the jars. This implies that the jars were transported from another site, kilometers away, likely by elephant.

But the best thing about this site was the view...

Our driver [not sure if he was an Aries (joke for Tommy)], who was our tour guide’s father, grew up near the second site, so he took us to see the house he grew up in. We met his parents, who served us fruit and were very welcoming.

At the end of the day, we also stopped to see the empty hull of an old, Russian tank. Everything that could be removed had been sold by locals as scrap metal. If they could find a way to move the heavy hull, I am sure they would have sold that, too.