Fig 1.
View to the southwest at megalithic jar Site 1.
Fig 2.
Primary interment, Burial 5 & 7 at Site 1.
Fig 3.
Ceramic burial jar beneath quartz rich sandstone boulder at Site 1.
Fig 4.
A secondary burial with bones associated with limestone blocks and beneath a sandstone disc (disc removed in photo).
Fig 5.
View of megalithic jars at Site 2.
Fig 6.
Map of Laos displaying Xieng Khouang Province, sites excavated and quarry, Site 21.
Fig 7.
View of megalithic jars at Site 52.
Fig 8.
Map showing locations of Sites 21 (Phoukeng Quarry), 1 and 2, Xieng Khouang Province.
Fig 9.
a) Calibrated 14C ages from Site 1, Unit 1 and b) Site 1, Units 2 and 3 using OxCal 4.4 and the IntCal 20 atmospheric calibration curve. The plot excludes ANU49313 (listed in S2 Table) as the date was anomalous.
Table 1.
Dates of charcoal from three excavation units at Site 2.
Fig 10.
Calibrated 14C ages for charcoal from Site 2 (Units 1, 2, 3) using OxCal 4.4 and the IntCal 20 atmospheric calibration curve.
The plot excludes ANU62930 and ANU62926 (listed in Table 1), as these modern-range results skewed plot presentation.
Table 2.
Variables and diagnostics underpinning OSL De, Dr and Age data in Table 3.
Table 3.
OSL dates from multi-grain aliquots of natural 5–15 μm sedimentary quartz located beneath Jars 052020052 and 052030064 at Site 52, and Jars W0013 and W0021 at Site 2.
Fig 11.
Location of OSL samples taken from beneath Jars W0013 and W0021 at Site 2.
The remains of Jar W0018 can be seen in the background. Figures are reported as kya.
Fig 12.
A. Jar 102 from Site 1, B. Site 21 (Phoukeng Quarry), photo courtesy Simon Tener. C. Partially completed jar at Phoukeng Quarry.
Fig 13.
Stacked zircon U-Pb age cumulative probability curves for three samples from Sites 1 and 21.
Samples 12 (an uncompleted jar) and 13 (a nearby sandstone outcrop) are from the quarry site and sample 15 is jar 01020125 from Site 1. n = the number of analyses done per sample.
Table 4.
SHRIMP U-Th-Pb data for sample 12.
Uncertainties in the ratios and ages are reported at 1σ.
Table 5.
SHRIMP U-Th-Pb data for sample 13.
Uncertainties in the ratios and ages are reported at 1σ.
Table 6.
SHRIMP U-Th-Pb data for sample 15.
Uncertainties in the ratios and ages are reported at 1σ.