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This is an incomplete list of dolmens, a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb. 40% of the world's dolmens are found in Korea.[1][2] Dolmens are also found in Europe, especially Northern France, Britain and Ireland.

Dolmen sites

Asia

Caucasus

See also: Dolmens of North Caucasus and Dolmens of Abkhazia

Over 3,000 dolmens and other structures can be found in the North-Western Caucasus region in Russia, where more and more dolmens are discovered in the mountains each year. These dolmens are related to the Maykop culture. This great city of dolmens was built along the shores of the Black Sea from Maykop down to Sochi. The inhabitants were metal workers. The dolmens were vaults or safes of stone, with a narrow circular entrance that could be tapped with a round screw of stone. Supposedly the dolmens were used to hide and protect metal objects: gold, silver, bronze, jewels and some other treasure. Trade of these objects was done with Persia, Assyria, Egypt and Crete. The Dolmen City was pillaged and sacked by Scythian invaders in the early first millennium BC. The metal workers were enslaved.[citation needed]

China

A large group of dolmens along the Huifa River in Jilin Province were listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 2006. The dolmens have been dated to the fifth century BCE and total more than 80. They are linked to similar monuments found on the Korean Peninsula and the Liao River basin.[3]

India

See also: Archaeology in India and List of menhirs in India

List of dolmens in India, from north to south, is.

Korea

Example of a southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island

Korean dolmens exhibit a morphology distinct from the Atlantic European dolmen.[5][6][7] The largest concentration of dolmens in the world is found on the Korean Peninsula. With an estimated 35,000 dolmens, Korea alone accounts for nearly 40% of the world’s total.[1][2] The largest distribution of these is on the west coast area of South Korea, an area that would eventually become host to the Mahan confederacy and be united under the rule of the ancient kingdom of Baekje at one time.

Example of a northern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island

Three specific UNESCO World Heritage sites at Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa ( Hwasun – 34°58′39″N 126°55′54″E / 34.9775414°N 126.931551°E / 34.9775414; 126.931551) by themselves account for over 1,000 dolmens.[8]

The Korean word for dolmen is goindol (Korean: 고인돌) "supported stone".[6] Serious studies of the Korean megalithic monuments were not undertaken until relatively recently, well after much research had already been conducted on dolmens in other regions of the world. Since 1945, new research has been conducted by Korean scholars. In 1981 a curator of National Museum of Korea, Gon'gil Ji, classified Korean dolmens into two general types: northern and southern.[6]

The boundary between them falls at the Bukhan River although examples of both types are found on either side. Northern style dolmens stand above ground with a four sided chamber and a megalithic roof (also referred to as "table type"), while southern style dolmens are normally built into the ground and contain a stone chest or pit covered by a rock slab.[5][7]

Korean dolmens can also be divided into three main types: the table type, the go-table type and the unsupported capstone type.[5] The dolmen in Ganghwa is a northern-type, table-shaped dolmen and is the biggest stone of this kind in South Korea, measuring 2.6 by 7.1 by 5.5 m (8.5 by 23.3 by 18.0 ft).[6] There are many sub-types and different styles.[9] Southern type dolmens are associated with burials but the reason for building northern style dolmens is uncertain.[5]

Due to the vast numbers and great variation in styles, no absolute chronology of Korean dolmens has yet been established. It is generally accepted that the Korean megalithic culture emerged from the late Neolithic age, during which agriculture developed on the peninsula, and flourished throughout the Bronze Age.[10] Some dolmens depict astronomical formations, dated up to 3000 B.C. effectively the first star-chart in the world.[11] How and why Korea has produced so many dolmens is still poorly understood. There is no current conclusive theory on the origin of Korea's megalithic culture, and so it is difficult to determine the true cultural character of Korean dolmens. Some dolmens are also found in Manchuria and the Shandong Peninsula. Off the peninsula, similar specimens can be found in smaller numbers, but they are often considerably larger than the Korean dolmens.[12] It is a mystery why this culture flourished so extensively only on the Korean peninsula and its vicinity in Northeast Asia.[5]

Middle East and Iran

Flint dolmen in Johfiyeh, Jordan

Dolmens can be found in the Levant, some along the Jordan Rift Valley (Upper Galilee in Israel, the Golan Heights,[13] Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and southeast Turkey.[14][15]

Dolmens in the Levant are a different, unrelated tradition to that of Europe, although they are often treated "as part of a trans-regional phenomenon that spanned the Taurus mountains to the Arabian peninsula."[14] In the Levant, they are of Early Bronze rather than Late Neolithical age.[14] They are mostly found along the Jordan Rift Valley's eastern escarpment, and in the hills of the Galilee, im clusters near Early Bronze I proto-urban settlements (3700–3000 BCE), additionally restricted by geology to areas allowing the quarrying of slabs of megalithic size.[14] In the Levant, geological constraints led to a local burial tradition with a variety of tomb forms, dolmens being one of them.[14]

Numerous large dolmens are in the Israeli national park at Gamla in the Golan Heights.[16][17] In northern Jordan, there are many examples of flint dolmens in the historical villages of Johfiyeh and Natifah. The greatest number of dolmens in Jordan are around Madaba, like the ones at Al-Faiha village, 10 km (6.2 mi) to the west of Madaba city.[18] Two dolmens are in Hisban, and the most have been found in Wadi Zarqa Ma'in at Murayghat, which are being destroyed by gravel quarries.[19]

In Iran some dolmens can be seen in Meshgin Shahr County at Shahr Yeri or Pirazmian.[citation needed]

Africa

Horn of Africa

In northern Somalia, the town of Aw Barkhadle is surrounded by a number of ancient structures. Among these are dolmens, burial mounds, menhirs (standing stones), and stelae.[20]

North Africa

Dolmen at Roknia, an ancient necropolis in the Guelma region of northeast Algeria; the site includes more than 7000 dolmens spread over an area of 2 km (1.2 mi)

In northern Tunisia, Dougga is an important ancient site, which contains a necropolis with dolmens. The settlement also features a sanctuary dedicated to Ba'al Hammon, neo-Punic stelae, the mausoleum, architectural fragments, and a temple dedicated to Masinissa, the remains of which were found during archaeological excavations.

Europe

Overview

Megalithic tombs are found from the Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea and North Sea coasts south to Spain and Portugal. Hunebedden are chamber tombs similar to dolmens and date to the middle Neolithic (Funnelbeaker culture, 4th millennium BC). They consist of a kerb surrounding an oval mound, which covered a rectangular chamber of stones with the entrance on one of the long sides. Some have a more complex layout and include an entrance passage giving them a T-shape. Various menhirs and dolmens are located around the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo. Pottery uncovered in these structures allowed the attribution of the monuments to the Ġgantija and Mnajdra temples culture of the early Neolithic Age.[21]

Dolmen sites fringe the Irish Sea and are found in south-east Ireland, Wales, Devon and Cornwall. In Ireland, most dolmens are found on the west coast, particularly in Connemara and the Burren, which includes some of the better-known examples, such as Poulnabrone dolmen. Examples such as the Annadorn dolmen have also been found in Northern Ireland, where they may have co-existed with the court cairn tombs.

In Mecklenburg and Pomerania/Pomorze in Germany and Poland, and in Drenthe in the Netherlands, large numbers of these graves were disturbed when harbours, towns, and cities were built. The boulders were used in construction and road building. Others, such as the Harhoog, in Sylt, were moved to new locations. There are still many thousands left today in Europe.

By 2017, all the hunebedden in the Netherlands were put in a 3D atlas (accessible to the public for free) using photogrammetry. The data was obtained from a collaboration between the Province of Drenthe and the University of Groningen, subsidized by the Gratama Foundation.[22]

In Turkey, there are some dolmens in the Regions of Lalapasa and Suloglu in the Province of Edirne and the Regions of Kofçaz, Kırklareli and Demirköy in the Province of Kırklareli, in the Eastern Thrace. They have been studied by Prof. Dr. Engin Beksaç, since 2004. And also, some of so-called monuments are in the different regions of Anatolia, in Turkey.

See also: Dolmens of Western Pomerania and Megalithic sites in Pyrénées-Orientales

Sites

Dolmen Sa Coveccada Mores (Sardinia)
Pseudo-Dolmen of Avola (Syracuse district), Sicily

Americas

Anicus dolmen

North America

South America

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Jensen Jr., John. Earth Epochs: Cataclysms across the Holocene. John Jensen. p. 276. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  2. ^ a b Meyerhoff, Janusz (2013). Misteryous Megalithic Structures. Lulu. ISBN 978-1-304-65092-4. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  3. ^ Yu Xiaohui 于晓辉 (2010). "辉发河上游的典型石棚墓概说" [An overview of representative dolmens on the upper reaches of the Huifa River]. Dongbei Shi di 东北史地 (in Chinese) (6): 9–12 and plates. doi:10.16435/j.cnki.cn22-1273/c.2010.06.014.
  4. ^ "Krishnagiri District Website". Krishnagiri.tn.nic.in. Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  5. ^ a b c d e Holcombe 2011, p. 79.
  6. ^ a b c d Nelson, Sarah Milledge (1993). The archaeology of Korea (Asian ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 147. ISBN 0-521-40783-4. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  7. ^ a b Joussaume, Roger Dolmens for the Dead Batsford Ltd (Jan 1988) ISBN 978-0-7134-5369-0 p. 141–142
  8. ^ UNESCO World Heritage List. "Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites." https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/977
  9. ^ Megalithic Cultures in Asia, Kim Byung-mo, 1982, Hanyang University Press
  10. ^ Nelson, Sarah Milledge (2012). The Archaeology of Northeast China: Beyond the Great Wall. Routledge. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-134-81659-0. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  11. ^ (PDF). September 24, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160924011040/http://optik2.mtk.nao.ac.jp/~somamt/gendai3/004-014HJYang.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 24, 2016. ((cite web)): Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ^ Joussaume, Roger Dolmens for the Dead Batsford Ltd (Jan 1988) ISBN 978-0-7134-5369-0 p. 280
  13. ^ Megalithic Structures in the Golan and the Galilee Reveal Rock Art of a Mysterious Ancient Culture, Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority, New York,12 July 2020. Accessed 12 Nov 2023.
  14. ^ a b c d e James A. Fraser, Dolmens in the Levant, 1st Edition 2018: "Description". Routledge homepage. Access 12 Nov 2023.
  15. ^ Fraser, James A. (2018), "Approaching dolmens in the Levant", Dolmens in the Levant, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, pp. 3–9, doi:10.4324/9781315147796-1, ISBN 9781315147796, retrieved 2021-12-22
  16. ^ Map, The Megalithic Portal and Megalith. "Gamla Dolmen field". Andy Burnham.
  17. ^ Oldest archaeological org in Israel: http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=1164&mag_id=115
  18. ^ Video on YouTube
  19. ^ Video on YouTube
  20. ^ Briggs, Phillip (2012). Somaliland. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-84162-371-9.
  21. ^ Journal of European Archaeology (JEA), 5 (1997); Emilia Pásztor and Curt Roslund: Orientation of Maltese dolmens.
  22. ^ "De Hunebedden in Nederland - A 3D model collection by Groningen Institute of Archaeology (@gia)". Sketchfab.
  23. ^ Edward Frederick Knight. Albania: A Narrative of Recent Travel – Primary Source Edition. Blackstaff Press. p. 257.
  24. ^ "The Scandinavian Contribution in Normandy". Viking.no. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
  25. ^ Weir, A (1980). Early Ireland. A Field Guide. Belfast: Blackstaff Press. p. 101.
  26. ^ Piccolo 2013.
  27. ^ Piccolo 2013, pp. 13 ff.
  28. ^ "Tell me more about hunebedden or dolmens in Holland". www.hunebedden.nl.
  29. ^ "Arts and Literature on Dartmoor - Dartmoor Art Galleries". VisitDartmoor.

Bibliography

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