Across the hills of central Laos sit thousands of enormous stone jars. They were deliberately carved and transported by people whose culture remains only partly understood. They are associated with ancient funerary practices, yet their precise purpose and the society that created them still contain unanswered questions. But something rather unexpected has happened to these ancient monuments. For roughly two thousand years, some of the jars have been collecting rainwater. Leaves have fallen into them. Organic matter has decomposed. Algae and microorganisms have colonised them. Nutrients have accumulated. Oxygen levels have changed. In effect, the ancient jars have become miniature ecosystems. And scientists now think they can be used as something even more unusual: a set of natural experiments that have been running for around 2,000 years. A monument hiding an experiment The Plain of Jars is one of Southeast Asia's great archaeological mysteries. Thousands of large stone vessels ar...
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