The Plain of Jars: Thousands of Stone Vessels, and a Minefield Over the Answer

2026-08-12 · Enigmatic Places · 7 min read

On the rolling grasslands of the Xiangkhoang Plateau in northern Laos, stone vessels stand in the open by the hundred. They are cut from solid rock, tapered slightly toward the rim, mostly between one and three metres tall and roughly as wide, and the largest weigh in the region of 14 tonnes. Some sit upright in tight clusters on hillsides, others lie tipped and half sunk in the turf. Surveys have identified well over ninety jar sites across the province, with more than 120 recorded in total, and individual sites range from a single vessel to around 400. The name that stuck, in Lao and in every other language, is simply the Plain of Jars.

The stone is not uniform. Five rock types have been identified in the vessels: sandstone, which is the most common and was used for the largest jars, along with granite, conglomerate, limestone and breccia. Quarry sources have been located near several of the sites, and at Site 1, the most visited group, the jars appear to have been moved roughly 8 kilometres from where the rock was cut. There is no evidence of metal-shod machinery, no wheels in the local record and no draft animals suited to the terrain. The vessels were hollowed with hand tools and dragged into place.

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