A thousand years ago, in northern Laos, someone tossed 37 people into a massive stone “jar” measuring more than two meters across in what appears to be a gigantic communal coffin for an entire extended family. According to research published in Antiquity, archaeologists now believe the huge vessel was used for burying several in one jar, like they were a grim pot of kimchi.
The dig site was imaginatively called Site 75. It can be found deep in the forests of the Xieng Khouang Plateau, which had already been previously known for being home to a series of giant stone jars scattered across the landscape. The existence of these giant jars is not new information, but for years, researchers wondered what they were for. Was it just storage? Were they fermenting foods or drinks?
The truth is way darker, and immediately gives me flashbacks to the village of jar people from Elden Ring.
It’s Not Just a Pile of Bodies in a Big Stone Jar
When cracked open, the researchers found bones and teeth from at least 37 separate people inside one of the giant jars, some of them dating back more than 1,000 years. Radiocarbon analysis told them that the jar remained in use for up to 270 years. That means several generations of people were deposited into the jars when they died, along with the remains of their ancestors, creating a huge morbid lasagna of death that I’m sure smelled great.
I am oversimplifying it a bit. There was more to it than just a pile of bodies in a big jar. There was also a smaller jar of dead bodies before the big jar that, according to archaeologist Nicholas Skopal, was used to “to ‘distill’ the bodies.”
The remains themselves had a few intriguing discoveries, like how beads recovered from the site seem like they originated way over in South India and Mesopotamia, suggesting that trade routes stretched across the continent.
Still, while this archaeological dig finally answered some ancient mysteries, there’s still one major mystery that has not been resolved, according to anthropologist and archaeologist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Miriam Stark, speaking with Science News: nobody really knows for sure where these people actually lived. We have evidence that they existed, and clearly, we have evidence that they returned to specific spots for ritualistic purposes, but we don’t have much evidence of a permanent settlement.
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