Episode
Solving the Mysteries of Southeast Asia's Prehistory
- Podcast
- Beyond the Mekong
- Published
- Feb 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1713
- Processing state
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Summary
Canadian archeologist Dougald O’Reilly and his team were widely credited with solving the mysteries surround the Plain of Jars in northeast Laos, a vast megalithic landscape of massive stone jars scattered in clusters, dating to the Iron Age, around 500 BCE to 500 CE. O’Reilly, a professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, has also released his latest book "Empires of the Southern Ocean," which traces state-level societies across Southeast Asia, encompassing modern-day Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. He spoke with The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt about his discoveries at the Plain of Jars, which have besotted and mystified archeologists, explorers, and tourists for centuries and the issues confronted by his team in preserving the site.