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Mystery of the two-ton, 1,000 year old giant stone 'jars of the dead' deepens | Daily Mail Online
The discovery of 137 new stone 'jars of the dead' that date back more than a thousand years ago has deepened Laos' abiding archaeological enigma.
The cup-like carved stones vary in size, reaching up to 10 feet (3 metres) in height and two tons in weight.
Exactly how the jars were used is unknown, however it has been suggested that they served as 'burial urns' for storing human remains — while local myths claim they were goblets once used by a drunk horde of giants.
Researchers led from the Australian National University found the new jar sites in a remote and mountainous forest during a survey that began in 2015.
The jars were buried with decorated stone discs, mysterious smaller jars made of clay and a variety of more conventional stone age artefacts like beads and jewellery.
The discoveries show that the mysterious practices involving the jars were more widely performed than previously thought — and could help us interpret them.