ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the geographical setting in which these sites are located, review the research undertaken previously at selected sites, and present the results of research by the authors at three of the megalithic sites in Laos, Sites 1, 52 and 2 between 2016 and 2019. The megalithic jars of Laos were first reported in European accounts in the late nineteenth century as curiosities but the first archaeological investigation of the megalithic jar sites was conducted by Madeleine Colani. In 1994 Japanese archaeologist Eiji Nitta excavated at Site 1, recording unburned human bones and teeth, iron knives and glass beads in pits around the jars. One of the pits contained an incised ceramic jar (similar to those noted by Colani) containing human skeletal material.
