Interpreting Southeast Asia's Past: Monument, Image and Text

Chapter 31: Legacy of a Secret War: Archaeological Research and Bomb Clearance in the Plain of Jars, Lao PDR

400 Chapter 31 Legacy of a Secret War: Archaeological Research and Bomb Clearance in the Plain of Jars, Lao PDR Pamela Rogers and Julie Van Den Bergh Abstract The megalithic stone jars which make up the Plain of Jars archaeological site number in the thousands, and are widely distributed over the mountainous expanse of Xieng Khouang Province, northern Lao PDR. This chapter summarizes what is known about the stone jars, and describes the UNESCO project for recording them and helping the Lao authorities to safeguard them, to cooperate with bomb clearance programs to ensure the safety of both visitors and residents, and to encourage eco-tourism based on the sites and their natural landscape in order to benefit the local economy and to alleviate rural poverty. Introduction The megalithic stone jars which make up the Plain of Jars archaeological site number in the thousands and are widely distributed over the mountainous expanse of Xieng Khouang Province, northern Lao PDR. Clusters of stone monuments, numbering from single jars to groups of several hundred, are located on lower hill slopes and in high mountain terrain (Figure 31.1). To date, over 60 jar sites have been Fig 31.1 Map showing the location of jar sites in Xieng Khouang Province, Lao PDR. 31 ISEAnn.indd 400 6/6/08 10:53:02 AM 401 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND BOMB CLEARANCE IN THE PLAIN OF JARS, LAO PDR identified. Initial archaeological study was carried out in the 1930s by Madelaine Colani (1935); in recent years small-scale testing has been undertaken by Lao and Japanese archaeologists (Nitta 1996; Sayavongkhamdy and Bellwood 2000). Excavation has revealed that around the stone jars there are secondary burials of cremated human remains interred inside ceramic pots with a variety of artifacts. These include gold and bronze jewelry, bronze and iron weapons, shells, glass and stone beads, polished stone implements, and ceramics. The material has links to finds from Iron Age deposits from sites in the Khorat Plateau and in Vietnam. Although the precise function of these jars is unknown, limited excavation and associated human remains indicate that they played a central funerary role in a little known prehistoric culture which made and assembled them. It is believed that these people occupied a strategic location from where they could control caravan trade routes between eastern India, southern China, north-central Vietnam, and the Khorat Plateau. Such well-traveled caravan routes passing through Xieng Khouang continued to be used until the early part of the twentieth century. Whatever their functions, these jars form a unique and significant cultural resource in urgent need of identification, mapping, and safeguarding (Figure 31.2). This chapter describes the UNESCO project for recording them and helping the Lao authorities to safeguard them, to cooperate with bomb clearance programs to ensure the safety of both visitors and residents, and to encourage eco-tourism based on the sites and their natural landscape in order to benefit the local economy and to alleviate rural poverty. Fig 31.2 View of jars at Site 3. The Contemporary Context The monuments of the Plain of Jars seem to date from the late first millennium BCE to the earlyto -mid first millennium CE, but are embedded in a contemporary landscape of rural poverty. Xieng Khouang is one of the poorest provinces of one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia. The dispersed population, comprising a large percentage of indigenous tribal groups, is widely engaged in subsistence agriculture. The potential for rural development is hindered by deadly remnants of the recent past in the form of unexploded ordinance (UXO) from the Vietnam War era. Approximately half a million bombing 31 ISEAnn.indd 401 6/6/08 10:53:02 AM 402 PAMELA ROGERS AND JULIE VAN DEN BERGH missions were flown over Xieng Khouang, and more than two million tons of ordinance were dropped, of which some 30 per cent failed to detonate and remain on or below the surface of more than 25 per cent of the province’s farm land, rice paddy, hillsides, and village environs (MAG 2004) (Figure 31.3). Every year lives are lost and the personal and economic toll rises. Fig 31.3 Map showing the intensity of bombing of a portion of Xieng Khouang Province. This cultural landscape is now experiencing growing pressures for regional economic development, particularly for tourism. Cultural and eco-tourism based on the rich heritage...