A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus (burial mound). Small pad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance.Murphy (1997), 43 In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton". The Korean Peninsula is home to the world's highest concentration of dolmens,UNESCO World Heritage List. "Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites." https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/977 including "cemeteries" consisting of 30–100 examples located in close proximity to each other; with over 35,000 dolmens, Korea alone (for unknown reasons) accounts for approximately 40% of the global total.

History

It remains unclear when, why and by whom the earliest dolmens were made. The oldest known are found in Western Europe, dating from c. 7,000 years ago. Archaeologists still do not know who erected these dolmens, which makes it difficult to know why they did it. They are generally all regarded as tombs or burial chambers, despite the absence of clear evidence for this. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artefacts, have been found in or close to the dolmens which could be scientifically dated using radiocarbon dating. However, it has been impossible to prove that these remains date from the time when the stones were originally set in place. Example of a southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island

Example of a southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island

The word ''dolmen'' entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his (1796) using the spelling ''dolmin'' (the current spelling was introduced about a decade later and had become standard in French by about 1885). The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' does not mention ''dolmin'' in English and gives its first citation for ''dolmen'' from a book on Brittany in 1859, describing the word as "The French term, used by some English authors, for a cromlech ...". The name was supposedly derived from a Breton language term meaning 'stone table' but doubt has been cast on this, and the ''OED'' describes its origin as "Modern French". A book on Cornwall, Cornish antiquities from 1754 said that the current term in the Cornish language for a cromlech was ('hole of stone') and the OED says that "There is reason to think that this was the term inexactly reproduced by Latour d'Auvergne [sic] as ''dolmen'', and misapplied by him and succeeding French archaeologists to the ''cromlech''". Nonetheless it has now replaced ''cromlech'' as the usual English term in archaeology, when the more technical and descriptive alternatives are not used. The later Cornish term was wikt:quoit, ''quoit'' – an English-language word for an object with a hole through the middle preserving the original Cornish language term of – the name of another dolmen-like monument is in fact Mên-an-Tol 'stone with hole' (SWF: ''Men An Toll''.) Dolmens are known by a variety of names in other languages, including ga, dolmain, Galician language, Galician and pt, anta, bg, translit=Dolmeni, Долмени, german: Hünengrab/Hünenbett, Afrikaans and nl, hunebed, eu, trikuharri, Abkhaz language, Abkhaz: , Adyghe language, Adyghe: , Danish language, Danish and no, dysse, sv, dös, ko, translit=goindol, 고인돌, and he, גַלעֵד. :wikt:granja, ''Granja'' is used in Portugal, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, and some parts of Spain. The rarer forms ''anta'' and ''ganda'' also appear. In Catalan language, Catalan-speaking areas, they are known simply as , but also by a variety of folk names, including ('cave'), ('crate' or 'coffin'),Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B
"caixa"
(in Catalan). In: ''Diccionari català-valencià-balear''. Palma: Moll, 1930-1962. ISBN 8427300255. ('table'),Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B
"taula"
(in Catalan). In: ''Diccionari català-valencià-balear''. Palma: Moll, 1930-1962. ISBN 8427300255. ('chest'), ('hut'), ('hut'), ('slab'), ('pallet slab'), ('rock') or ('stone'), usually combined with a second part such as ('of the Arab'), ('of the Moor/s'),Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B
"cova"
(in Catalan). In: ''Diccionari català-valencià-balear''. Palma: Moll, 1930-1962. ISBN 8427300255. ('of the thief'), ('of the devil'), ('of Roland'),. In the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, they are attributed to the ''jentilak'', a race of giants. The etymology of the german: Hünenbett, Hünengrab and nl, hunebed – with ''/'' meaning 'giant' – all evoke the image of Giant (mythology), giants buried (// = 'bed/grave') there. Of other Celtic languages, Welsh language, Welsh was borrowed into English and ''quoit'' is commonly used in English in Cornwall.

Types

* * * * * File:Trethevy Quoit from the South - geograph.org.uk - 362250.jpg, Trethevy Quoit - one of the best-preserved in Cornwall, UK dated to around 3500–2500 BCE File:Chûn Quoit (small).jpg, Chûn Quoit in Cornwall, UK, about 2400 BCE File:Zennor Quoit (small) (9612120).jpg, Zennor Quoit in Cornwall, UK, 2500–1500 BCE File:Lanyon Quoit 05.jpg, Lanyon Quoit in Cornwall, UK, 3500-2500 BCE File:MarayoorDolmen.JPG, A dolmen erected by Neolithic people in Marayur, Kerala, India. File:Muniyara.jpg, Dolmens of Marayoor, India. File:Example of a southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island.jpg, A southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea File:Example of a northern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island.jpg, A northern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea File:Korea-Hwasun Dolmen sites03.jpg, The biggest dolmen near Hwasun, South Korea File:Dolmen Roch-Feutet.JPG, The dolmen Er-Roc'h-Feutet in Carnac, Brittany, France File:Crucuno dolmen.jpg, Crucuno dolmen in Plouharnel, Brittany, France File:KilclooneyDolmen1986.jpg, Kilclooney More dolmen near Ardara, County Donegal, Ireland File:LG Dolmen1.JPG, Lancken-Granitz dolmen, Germany File:Hunebed-d27.jpg, T-shaped Hunebed D27 in Borger-Odoorn, Netherlands File:Antadaaboboreira.jpg, Dólmen da Aboboreira, Baião Municipality, Baião, Portugal File:Dolmen di Avola.JPG, Dolmen of Avola, Sicily File:Bisceglie dolmen della chianca 5.JPG, Dolmen of Bisceglie, Apulia File:Inukshuk Sunset Kuujjuaraapik January.jpg, Inuksuk in the vicinity of Kuujjuarapik, Quebec File:12i dolmen di Montalbano.jpg, Dolmen of Fasano, Apulia File:Tinkinswood burial chamber (4787).jpg, Tinkinswood, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, around 3000 BCE File:Dolmen de Axeitos.jpg, Dolmen of Oleiros, Spain, Oleiros, Galicia File:Mores02.jpg, Dolmen Sa Coveccada, Mores, Sardinia File:Dolmen Russia Kavkaz Jane 1.jpg, Russia File:Долмен Начови чаири.jpg, Bulgaria File:Dombate perfil 2013.jpg, Musealised Dolmen de Dombate, Galicia (Spain) File:Dolmen-Keriaval.jpg, Keriaval Dolmen, Carnac, Brittany, France File:Temuan Kolonial Belanda.jpg, Dolmen Batu Brak in Sumatra. Liwa, Indonesia.

References

Sources

* * *Murphy, Cornelius. ''The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Beara Peninsula, Co. Cork''. Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, 1997

External links

World heritage site of dolmen in Korea

Piccolo, Salvatore. "Dolmen." World History Encyclopedia.

The Megalith Map

The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map

in Italian and English

Research Centre of Dolmens in Northeast Asia

* on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Jersey Heritage Trust

by Robert Triest.
Dolmens of Russia

Dolmens. Part 2. How and for which purpose were they built? Hypotheses
{{Authority control Dolmens, Burial monuments and structures Megalithic monuments Types of monuments and memorials Stone monuments and memorials Stones Death customs Megalithic monuments in the Middle East Stone Age Europe

History

Types

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links