PHONSAVAN, Laos -- Archaeologist Eiji Nitta dug and scraped. The answer to the puzzle of the giant stone vessels scattered throughout the Plain of Jars in northern Laos lay, he believed, not in their material or their contents, but in what lay under them.
Within two weeks, the Kagoshima University professor had uncovered enough evidence to formulate probably the most significant theory yet to explain and date one of Asia's great enigmas.
"For over 60 years, Western and Southeast Asian archaeologists have accepted the theory that the jars date back more than 2,000 years," said Nitta, a professor at Kagoshima University's Center for Comparative Archaeology and an expert in the prehistory of Southeast Asia. "Until now."