Korean dolmens (Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa)
Dólmenes coreanos (Gochang, Hwasun y Ganghwa)
- Date
- c. 1500-300 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Gochang, North Jeolla, South Korea
- Credited to
- Korean Bronze Age societies (Mumun)
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Megalithic tombs of slabs and boulders weighing up to more than a hundred tonnes, raised using sledges, rollers and levers. Korea has tens of thousands of dolmens, and those of Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa (World Heritage, 2000) are the best preserved.
Korea is often said to hold nearly half the world's dolmens; the figure depends on how they are counted. Table, capstone and cist types date from c. 1500 to c. 300 BC, with later reuse.
What it led to
- chiefdoms able to mobilise labour for collective works
- funerary tradition preceding Gojoseon and the Samhan polities
- a world reference for East Asian megalithism