Recent archaeological research in Laos

This paper presents preliminary results from the recent research by Sayavongkhamdy in the Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Xieng Khuang prvinces in northern Laos. Two cave sites in Luang Prabang, Tam Hua and Tam Nang An, were first occupied furing Hoabinhian times, and then used for secondary burials during the Iron Age. Lao Pako, an open site in Vientiane Province combines the functions of burial and habitation during the period between 500 BC and AD 500. The three largest sites in the Iron Age "Plain of Jars" complex were test-pitted revealing funerary pots under the granite blocks lying between the stone jars, in addition to the very different style of mortuary pots associated with the stone jars themselves, A synthetic review of the sites under study will throw light on the role that the Lao territory might have played, thanks to its strategic location during periods when major traditions of stone-tool making, pottery, agriculture and metallurgy were spreading through Mainland Southeast Asia.