History of Laos

Laos emerged from the French Colonial Empire as an independent country in 1953. Laos exists in truncated form from the thirteenth century Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. Lan Xang existed as a unified kingdom from 1357-1707, divided into the three rival kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and Champasak from 1707-1779, fell to Siamese suzerainty from 1779-1893, and was reunified under the French Protectorate of Laos in 1893. The borders of the modern state of Laos were established by the French colonial government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Mekong River valley region is one of the cradles of human civilization. Anatomically modern humans have inhabited the regions around modern Laos since the late to early Holocene eras. In 2009 an ancient skull was recovered from Tam Pa Ling Cave in the Annamite Range of northern Laos which was dated between 46,000 and 63,000 years old, making it the oldest fully modern human remains found to date in Southeast Asia.[1] The findings are critical to understanding the migration patterns of early humans, who traveled in successive waves moving west to east following the coastlines, but also moving further inland and further north than previously theorized.

Archaeological exploration in Laos has been limited due to rugged and remote topography, a history of twentieth century conflicts which have left over two million tons of unexploded ordnance throughout the country, and local sensitivities to history which involve the Communist government of Laos, village authorities and rural poverty. The first archaeological explorations of Laos began with French explorers acting under the auspices of the École française d'Extrême-Orient. However, due to the Lao Civil War it is only since the 1990s that serious archaeological efforts have begun in Laos. Since 2005, one such effort, The Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) has excavated and surveyed numerous sites along the Mekong and its tributaries around Luang Prabang in northern Laos, with the goal of investigating early human settlement of the Mekong River Valleys.

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