Blog

The dolmen on Ganghwa Island are the best known in Korea, but dolmen are found throughout the country. Apparently they protected the burial sites of important people. They would have to have been important, because the size of the rocks would require a significant labor force to put them in place.

There have been both stone tools and a few bronze items discovered in and around the dolmen, though archeologists generally associate the dolmen with the Korean Bronze Age (circa 900-400 BC).

The dolmen found in Korea are of three types. Those on Ganghwa are typical of the Northern Style (sometimes called the Table Style) and have large upright stones in a rough sqaure, covered by a flat capstone.

The Southern Style (found south of the Han River) has a large boulder as a capstone place atop smaller stones.

The third type of dolmen simple has a large capstone laid over the burial site.

Stone dolmen are not just a Korean phenomenon they are found throughout central Asia and western Europe. It is rather intriguing to think that Korean dolmen are exactly like those found in Ireland, some 9,600 km (6,000 miles) to the west.


Visit Korea: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto

Photo Credits: http://pen.jdsn.net/cafe/data/cheditor/0711/nms819_2.jpg