For nearly a century, archaeologists have puzzled over thousands of giant stone jars scattered across the highlands of Laos. Carved from solid rock and weighing several tons each, they stand in clusters across the landscape, yet almost all of them have turned up empty, leaving their original purpose almost impossible to determine. That has finally changed. When researchers excavated the interior of one of the largest known jars, they found it packed with the bones of dozens of people, offering the clearest evidence yet that at least some of these mysterious vessels served as communal burial sites. Researchers hope that ongoing DNA analysis could eventually reveal whether the individuals buried together were related by blood or simply connected through shared community and geography, adding an important new layer to this centuries-old mystery.
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