The valley of jugs - an archaeological monument in Laos, in Xianhuang
province. It's thousands of big stone jugs at the foot of the Annamite
range dividing Laos and Vietnam.
The size of the jugs varies from 0,5 to 3 meters, their weight reaches
6000 kg and they are about 1500-2000 years old. Now it's being discussed
whether to give this place the status of the World Heritage of the
UNESCO. The situation is getting more complicated due to the fact that
Xianhuang province underwent serious American bombing in the 70s during
the so-called "Secret War". That's the reason why the considerable part
of the valley is not open for tourists.
Archaeоlogists believe that the jugs were used 1500-2000 years ago by
the ancient people who lived in South-East Asia and whose culture
remains to be absolutely unknown. The material dates back to 500-800
years BC. Anthropologists and historians suppose that the jugs were used
either like funeral urns or to store water.
The biggest group of the jugs not far from Phonsavan city is called the
First Site, it has about 250 jugs of vaious sizes. They lay among
unexploded shells so only three sites are open for visitors, entering
other sites is considered to be dangerous.
Laotian legends say that in this valley there lived giants. Other
legends say that king Khun Chyn won his enemies and ordered to make the
jugs for rice wine Lao Lao.
During the Civil war Americans damaged the cave by bombing and since
then the valley has been keeping many unexploded shells. After the war
the research in the valley became limited due to the risk of explosion.
Landscapes around
via ljpoisk
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