WEBVTT - The Key 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.440 Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:14.440 iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:18.440 the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.160 of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:28.840 waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.479 The road to the central highland plateau of Siang Kwang 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:43.400 in northern Laos is a rough one. It climbs and twists, 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:47.479 revealing to the travelers sweeping vistas at every turn, terraced 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.760 fields where cattle graze, and dramatic limestone cliffs. The road 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:56.040 itself is frequently broken, with deep ruts and occasional washouts, 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.720 slow traffic to a crawl. They're in the remote misty 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.319 heighth giants dominate the landscape, massive stone vessels that give 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:08.760 the plateau its name, the plane of jars. These vessels 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.119 are not modest, some rising up to three meters in height, 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.520 but some weighing up to thirty tons. Their shapes vary 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.920 nearly as much as their sizes. Some cylinders, some with 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:23.639 their large stone lids resembling mushrooms. Many are cracked and worn. 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.720 Their surfaces, ground down over time by the wind and 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:30.399 the weather. The jars are spread out over a massive territory. 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.320 Some stand alone as watchful sentinels, while others are densely 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:38.760 clustered together as strange stone forests. In the late nineteen twenties, 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.600 French geologist and archaeologist Madeline Kolani traveled to Laos to 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.400 conduct the first comprehensive study of these jars. She spent 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:52.600 months on sites, mapping each jar with meticulous care, sketching configurations, 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:56.440 and conducting excavations. She also spent time listening to the 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:00.720 storytelling of locals, taking into account their understanding of the place. 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.480 While earlier scholars assumed the vessels were mere storage for 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.320 grain or water, she came to believe that they held 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:11.720 a deeper ritual purpose. The discovery of charred human remains 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:15.000 in nearby caves suggested that the jars played a role 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.560 in the funerary rituals rather than the mundane storage of 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:22.919 these peoples. The caves, she suggested, were used to cremate bodies, 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.160 which would then be interred in the jars. She used 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.320 these discoveries to publish a two volume study of the area, 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.680 which laid the foundation for scholarship on the subject. Kolani 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:36.720 continued to conduct field studies of the jars until her 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.440 death in nineteen forty three, but it would be many 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:43.600 decades before new researchers brought modern technology to the mystery. 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.200 In nineteen ninety four, for example, researchers used modern GPS 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:52.440 enabled mapping of site I, documenting the exact location of 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.440 each jar and the surrounding burial pits. This helped establish 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:01.320 a more clear relationship between the two since advances, including 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:06.080 the technique called optically stimulated luminescence or OSL, have further 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.240 clarified the chronology of the vessels, showing them to be 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:11.640 relics of the Iron Age, with some of the jars 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:16.080 dating back three thousand years. Carbon dating of the remains, however, 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.120 have shown that their period of usage extended to around 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:23.040 seven hundred years ago, suggesting and enduring ritual significance to 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.480 the sites leading well into the medieval era. All put together, 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:30.280 it seems that while scholars may disagree on the finer details, 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.800 the modern consensus now is that Kolani was correct. Now, 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.320 the extensive travel required to witness the plane of jars 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.680 makes it an unlikely tourist destination. But there's another reason 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.800 that the sites are sparsely visited. A single wrong step 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.880 could be fatal. You see, when northern Laos was heavily 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.440 bombed during the Vietnam War, tens of millions of unexploded 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:55.320 cluster munitions were left hidden in the soil. It's estimated 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:57.840 that it will take nearly a century to remove all 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.240 the unexploded bombs. Today, hey, the Jara Plains is a 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:06.560 UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for its archaeological and cultural significance. 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:11.440 Local authorities have created walking paths, signage, and small visitor 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.600 centers to educate travelers while also protecting the ancient stones. 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.280 Guided tours, as you'd imagine, are very limited, but a 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.960 slow stream of international travelers do make their journey each year, 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.400 drawn by both the mystery and the majesty of the landscape. 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.560 Visiting the Plane of Jars is indeed a journey through 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.440 time where the ancient rituals of past civilizations is on 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.359 full display. These stone vessels stand as silent witnesses to 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.520 centuries of life, death and resilience, a reminder that history 0:04:42.880 --> 0:05:00.440 can be both unusual and very curious. Doug was worried, 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.480 worried about something most of us probably would never even 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:07.280 think about. He was worried about elk, more specifically, too 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:11.000 many elk, because Yellowstone National Park, home to nearly four 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:15.080 hundred species of animals and spanning three mountain states, was 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.160 in danger of ecological collapse. You see, Yellowstone was missing 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:22.960 one very important creature that brought balance to the whole ecosystem, 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.400 what is often called a keystone species, the North American 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.520 gray wolf, which had been completely absent from the park 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:34.400 for fifty years. But why. The story begins all the 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.120 way back in eighteen seventy four, when President Ulyssess Grant 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.320 designated Yellowstone as protected land and made it the very 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:45.599 first national park. Grant was moved after seeing photographs taken 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.680 by Ferdinand Hayden. One look at the roaming bison, swimming bears, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:54.280 wide canyons, alpine rivers, and enormous blue sky was enough 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.919 to convince him this place was special. But just because 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:01.440 the land was protected didn't mean the wildlife were. In fact, 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.719 many visitors came to the park for the purpose of 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:08.400 hunting bison, antelope, and even predator species. Gray Wolves were 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.760 especially sought after for their pelts and because they frightened 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:15.359 the tourists, occasionally the wolves even attacked local cattle herds 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.159 on nearby farms. All this meant that by nineteen twenty six, 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:23.279 there were no wolves left in Yellowstone, and this was 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.320 the problem that had Doug Smith so worried to fully 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.479 understand it, though, you have to think about this as 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.640 dominoes all lined up in a neat row ready to fall, 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.000 with the first hitting the second, and the third and 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.960 so on. The absence of wolves in the park was 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.800 a problem because without wolves, the elk population had grown 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.600 out of control. The plants that they ate, especially aspen 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:48.240 and cottonwood trees, were now in danger of being overgrazed. 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.840 And since the elk had no predators to fear, they 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.520 also spent longer and longer way out in the open 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.599 grazing beside the river bank. And because there were too 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.760 many elk, the plants along the river that cleaned the 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.400 river died off and the river became cloudy. And because 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:06.760 the river was cloudy, many fish didn't survive well in 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:10.080 that cloudy water, which meant fewer food for bears, otters, 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.960 and birds of prey, And with a vegetation gone from 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.520 the riverbank beavers also had nothing to build their dams with, 0:07:16.640 --> 0:07:19.680 and the creatures dependent on a wetland environment that was 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.000 created by those dams had nowhere to go. You can 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:27.040 see how one problem trickled down to all the other systems. 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.680 The solution here might seem obvious. It certainly did to 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.600 Doug Smith and the conservationists who were working with him. 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:37.200 If wolves were reintroduced into the park, this time with 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.360 protections in place to keep them from being hunted, the 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.800 rest might fall into place. As it turns out, that 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:47.360 was easier said than done. One big issue, well, that 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:52.360 would be the nearby ranchers. Yellowstone is situated between three states, Idaho, Wyoming, 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.400 and Montana, and in all three states there were farmers 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:58.800 and ranchers who felt worried about the plan to reintroduce 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.560 the wolves. Make sure the wolves would be in the 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.320 park and not on the ranchers land, But what was 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.800 to stop them from hunting down helpless livestock on nearby farms. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.560 It wasn't as if the wolves could read or understand 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.480 a you are leaving Yellowstone sign. Then even fences weren't 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.040 enough to deter them. And this wasn't the first time 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.600 that the park's conservation efforts had actually impacted these farmers' 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.160 ways of life. Bison ate up all the grass that 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.000 the farmers wanted to graze their own cowson, and then 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:29.000 as more and more visitors came to Yellowstone, the National 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.400 Park Service needed to expand They paid the farmers well 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.440 for their land, but many were sorry to leave their homes. Eventually, 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.400 the conservationists and the ranchers settled on a compromise. Wolves 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.680 that wandered out of the park and onto private land 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:45.880 were fair game for farmers and ranchers to kill. As 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:48.720 long as wolves stayed in the park, however, they would 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.000 be safe and protected by the law. In January of 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:56.200 nineteen ninety five, wildlife officials captured fourteen Canadian wolves in 0:08:56.280 --> 0:09:00.160 northern Alberta. These wolves, while not the same species as 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.360 the original Yellowstone wolves, were similar enough that they would 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.040 take the same role in the ecosystem. The conservationists even 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:09.480 made sure to pull wolves from different packs so that 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.480 they'd be able to breed and continue growing the population. 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.360 Once they were inside Yellowstone, and for months, the wolves 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:20.160 stayed in small acclamation pens within the park to get 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.240 comfortable with their new environment. Doug Smith was among the 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:26.800 researchers stationed to care for and observe the wolves to 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.680 see if they be ready for release. In March of 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.800 nineteen ninety five, the gates were opened and the fourteen 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:36.839 Canadian wolves stepped hesitantly into the snow to investigate their 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:40.400 new homes. Less than a year later, seventeen more joined 0:09:40.480 --> 0:09:44.120 Yellowstone's wolf population. As for the predictions of Doug Smith 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:48.040 and other conservationists, they all came true. Within months of 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.960 the wolves being reintroduced, Yellowstone went from an ecosystem teetering 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.559 on the edge of collapse to a thriving, flourishing environment, 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.280 receiving more than four million visitors every year, most of 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.000 them probably I have no idea that the lush forests, 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:05.000 the clean rivers, and the huge range of species that 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:09.080 they see are all thanks to one heroic creature, the 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:16.320 Big Bad Wolf. I hope you enjoyed today's guided tour 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.880 through the Cabinet of Curiosities. This show was created by 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:24.080 me Aaron Mankey in partnership with iHeart Podcasts, researched and 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.679 written by the Grim and Mild team, and produced by 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.520 Jesse Funk. Learn more about the show and the people 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:33.640 who make it over at Grimandmild dot com slash Curiosities. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.240 You'll also find a link to the official Cabinet of 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.400 Curiosity's hardcover book, available in bookstores and online, as well 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.160 as ebook and audiobook. And if you're looking for an 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:46.480 ad free option, consider joining our Patreon. It's all the 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:50.240 same stories, but without the interruption for a small monthly fee. 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.240 Learn more and sign up over at patreon dot com, 0:10:53.280 --> 0:11:00.120 slash Grimandmild, and until next time, stay curious, m