Central Laos Valley of the pitchers
Valley of the pitchers - an archaeological site in Laos, in the province of Xiengkhouang. In the Valley of the pitchers are thousands of large stone pots, scattered at the foot of Annam mountain range separating Laos and Vietnam. Pot size is one-half to three meters, their weight is 6,000 kg, and age is presumably from 1500 to 2000 years. At the moment, solved the issue of assigning the Valley of Jars World Heritage status by UNESCO. The situation is complicated by the fact that the province Xiengkhouang in 70 years, Tide was subjected to massive bombardment by U.S. Air Force during the so-called Secret War. For this reason, a significant part of the Valley is still inaccessible to tourists.
According to archaeologists, the jars were used 1500-2000 years ago, ancient people who lived in Southeast Asia, whose culture is totally unknown. The material dates from the period from 500 BC. er. 800 N. er. Anthropologists and historians have speculated that the jars were used either as a funerary urns, or water storage.
The largest group of pitchers near the town of Phonsavan called the first landing, she soderzhiot about 250 pots of varying sizes. Since pitchers are among the duds, only three sites open to visitors, visiting other sites considered dangerous.