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This is an incomplete list ofdolmens, a type of single-chambermegalithictomb. 40% of the world's dolmens are found in Korea.[1][2] Dolmens are also found in Europe, especially Northern France, Britain and Ireland.
Over 3,000 dolmens and other structures can be found in the North-WesternCaucasus region in Russia, where more and more dolmens are discovered in the mountains each year. These dolmens are related to theMaykop 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 byScythian invaders in the early first millennium BCE. The metal workers were enslaved.[citation needed]
Alarge group of dolmens along the Huifa River inJilin Province were listed as aMajor Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 2006. The dolmens have been dated to the fifth centuryBCE and total more than 80. They are linked to similar monuments found on theKorean Peninsula and theLiao River basin.[3]
List of dolmens in India, from north to south, is.
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 theKorean 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 ofSouth Korea, an area that would eventually become host to theMahan confederacy and be united under the rule of the ancient kingdom ofBaekje at one time.
Three specificUNESCO World Heritage sites atGochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa ( Hwasun –34°58′39″N126°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 isgoindol (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 ofNational Museum of Korea, Gon'gil Ji, classified Korean dolmens into two general types: northern and southern.[6]
The boundary between them falls at theBukhan 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 inGanghwa 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 lateNeolithic age, during which agriculture developed on the peninsula, and flourished throughout theBronze Age.[10] Some dolmens depict astronomical formations, dated up to 3000 BCE, 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 inManchuria and theShandong 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 inNortheast Asia.[5]
Dolmens can be found in theLevant, some along theJordan Rift Valley (Upper Galilee inIsrael, theGolan Heights,[13]Jordan,Lebanon,Syria, and southeastTurkey.[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 theTaurus Mountains to theArabian Peninsula."[14] In the Levant, they are ofEarly Bronze rather thanLate 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 theIsraeli national park atGamla in the Golan Heights.[16][17] In northernJordan, there are many examples of flint dolmens in the historical villages ofJohfiyeh andNatifah. The greatest number of dolmens in Jordan are aroundMadaba, like the ones at Al-Faiha village, 10 km (6.2 mi) to the west of Madaba city.[18] Two dolmens are inHisban, and the most have been found inWadi Zarqa Ma'in atMurayghat, which are being destroyed by gravel quarries.[19]
InIran some dolmens can be seen inMeshgin Shahr County atShahr Yeri orPirazmian.[citation needed]
In northernSomalia, the town of Aw Barkhadle is surrounded by a number of ancient structures. Among these are dolmens, burial mounds,menhirs (standing stones), andstelae.[20]
In northernTunisia,Dougga is an important ancient site, which contains anecropolis with dolmens. The settlement also features a sanctuary dedicated toBa'al Hammon, neo-Punic stelae, the mausoleum, architectural fragments, and a temple dedicated toMasinissa, the remains of which were found during archaeological excavations.
Megalithictombs are found from theMediterranean Sea,Baltic Sea andNorth Sea coasts south to Spain and Portugal.Hunebedden arechamber tombs similar to dolmens and date to the middleNeolithic (Funnelbeaker culture, 4th millennium BCE). They consist of akerb surrounding anoval mound, which covered arectangular 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. Variousmenhirs and dolmens are located around the Mediterranean islands ofMalta andGozo. Pottery uncovered in these structures allowed the attribution of the monuments to theĠgantija andMnajdra temples culture of the early Neolithic Age.[21]
Dolmen sites fringe theIrish Sea and are found in south-eastIreland,Wales,Devon andCornwall. In Ireland, most dolmens are found on the west coast, particularly inConnemara and theBurren, which includes some of the better-known examples, such asPoulnabrone dolmen. Examples such as theAnnadorn dolmen have also been found inNorthern Ireland, where they may have co-existed with thecourt cairn tombs.
InMecklenburg andPomerania/Pomorze in Germany and Poland, and inDrenthe 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 theHarhoog, inSylt, were moved to new locations. There are still many thousands left today in Europe.
By 2017, all thehunebedden in the Netherlands were put in a 3D atlas (accessible to the public for free) usingphotogrammetry. The data was obtained from a collaboration between the Province of Drenthe and theUniversity of Groningen, subsidized by the Gratama Foundation.[22]
In Turkey, there are some dolmens in the Regions of Lalapasa and Suloglu in the Province ofEdirne and the Regions of Kofçaz, Kırklareli and Demirköy in the Province ofKırklareli, 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.
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