Southeast Asia’s only landlocked country has many secrets to reveal. From the Plain of Jars in Xiengkhouang Province to the royal capital of Luang Prabang and the ancient Khmer Ruins of Vat Phou, Laos is replete with archaeological treasures.
Laos is a mountainous country with an average elevation of 2,083 m. This terrain with its diverse topography, from the high plateaus of the highlands to the narrow valleys and myriad waterfalls and rivers, has formed landscapes throughout history. At the same time, the country is relatively harder to access and traverse than its neighbours, which meant that archaeological expeditions have been harder to conduct.
What is known from the archaeology of Laos is regionally significant. One of the oldest examples of anatomically modern humans was discovered in Tam Pa Ling in northern Laos, indicating that humans were in Southeast Asia from at least around 60,000 years ago. Around the late second millennium BCE, people starting making giant stone jars and arranging them on elevated areas along the Xiengkhouang Plateau; these jar sites were later used as burial areas in the first millennium CE.
In the fifth century CE, southern Laos was a likely a part of Chenla with the ruins at Vat Phou as a capital; this area also later came under Khmer control during the Angkorian period. In the 14th century, a ruler named Fa Ngum established a kingdom known as Lan Xang, meaning “the million elephants”, centred around Muang Sewa (present-day Luang Prabang), with the aid of Angkor. Over the 15th century Lan Xang flourished, jockeying for territorial control and influence amongst other regional kingdoms, until the 18th century when it became a vassal for the Siamese.
In the 19th century, the by-then three kingdoms of Laos (Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champassak) became a unified protectorate of the French. It remained a French terrirtory until after World War II, when it gained independence. After a period of civil war, and having suffered intense bombings as a result of the Vietnam-American War, the country remains one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia. The government has little infrastruture and its few museums are poorly funded and have small collections. As a result, archaeological research is difficult without institutional support; however, this is improving as new generations of Laotians become more educated and aware of their country’s heritage. Only with greater public interest and awareness can increased funds be granted to the many historical sites which remain to be excavated.
The landlocked country of Laos is relatively unexplored, but the archaeological sites listed below have shown that Laos is an important location for understanding the history of Southeast Asia. Not all of these sites in this list are open to the public, and the locations marked on the map may not be exact. For more information about museums in Laos, check out the museum page here.
There aren’t many books about the archaeology of Laos, and the list below is my personal recommendations based on what I have in my library or have read. Newer books are higher up on the list. Some of these links are affiliate links and I may receive a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. For other sources of reliable academic information, you should also check out the books page for latest releases and the occassional free book, as well as the journals page for the latest scientific research.
Last update on 2024-11-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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The news reports indexed below usually link to external sites that were active at the time of posting; sometimes websites may be temporarily down or may have reorganised their underlying architecture or have even closed down – in these cases the links may not be available. Most of the news articles archived are in English; this is largely because I do not have a working competency in Lao, although when I am made aware of stories in this and other languages I try to index them.
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