Engraved stone sword wishing for eternity and the desire for consistency
Stone or rock is regarded to be eternity and solidarity. In particular, people in prehistoric times who relied on the natural environment nearby depended on the environment and climate changes. Therefore, they worshipped big trees (巨木) or big stones (巨石) to survive for a long time without being influenced by changes in the environment nearby.
A stone Dolmen symbolized a resting place for the souls of the dead and people might have thought about how they could be protected from harm(危害) caused by dead people. This is regarded to keep the souls of dead people safe as parts of Dolmen or stone swords or stone arrowhead were used. In addition, this also implies that the status the people enjoyed while they were alive was also to be protected in the afterlife.

In order to build a Dolmen, it is required to quarry and move huge stones. In the course of this, it is necessary to quarry and move tons of huge stones with significant efforts by a labor force for a long time. In order to mobilize a huge labor force, a farming society was needed to secure stable food. Therefore, Dolmens were built as a part of the ritual behavior of a community based on settlement and blood ties based on agricultural society focusing on rice farming (稻作). In addition, people in a society where Dolmen were built needed to establish a community such as farming community in a certain area to support cooperation and solidarity.
As a part of the ritual behavior of groups with blood ties in a community with cooperation such as farmers’ cooperative groups in ancient times, Dolmens were built as a memorial for a group as well as a tomb for ancestors. This behavior is understood to play a huge role in supporting the solidarity and cooperation of a community.

This is a tomb chamber built with flat stone exposed in the ground, and is built with flat cover stones on top of the tomb chamber with four or six flat stone plates. It looks like a table, and so is called a table type. Most of them are distributed in northern areas of the in Han River and Liaoning Sheng in China. Therefore, it is called a Northern Type Dolmen. (北方式). Among table types of Dolmen, large type was built as altar or a memorial.
Among the table types, super-large Dolmen with a length of 8m or longer, width of 5m of longer, and height of 2m of higher are only seen on the Liaodong Peninsula and Daedong River in Korea. They also have only one unit on a hill or hillside. However, the Southern table type Dolmens were built with 3 or 4m cover stones, and the height of a tomb chamber was within 1m. Therefore, this type of Dolmen was small along with narrow tomb chambers. The southern boundary of table type Dolmen that have been found are in Geochang in Gyeongnam, and Yeoungam and Gangjin in Jeonnam.

With four to eight huge cover stones supporting stones nearby, it is in the shape of a Goboard. Judging by the shape, it is lifted off the ground so that this base type Dolmen looks huge. Therefore, the cover stones are huge, and oddly shaped stones are only found in the Honam and Youngnam areas without specific tomb chambers. It is a type not found in North Korea, so it is also called a Southern type Dolmen (南方式 支石墓).
There is usually only one huge base type Dolmen found on a hill or a plane at the edge of a valley. However, there is one in the middle of an independent location in a place where stones were gathered. The cover stones of this Dolmen type are in an oval shape with a length between 3 and 6m, and width between 2 and 4m, and there are also types of parallelepiped on with clearly cut sides.

The dissected type Dolmen is covered with a stone on top of a tomb chamber under the ground. Dissected types covering a tomb chamber without supporting stones are also called Mijisuk type (無支石式), cover type, or big stone tomb. This type of tomb chambers made of stone are commonly found built with the original function of a tomb. They are widely distributed in the Liaodong Peninsula, the Korean Peninsula, and Kyushu in Japan, and are the most common type of Dolmen. The cover stones have many shapes including flat plate type, parallelepiped on type, and convex lens type. The cover stones are thin in northern areas and thicker in southern areas. Most of the relics excavated from Dolmen were from this type.

Surrounded stone type Dolmen, also called Jeju type, are exposed in the ground. Many of the plate stones are established along with the boundary of stone covers. With more than six flat stone plates on the ground, they have a similar shape as the flat type of cover stones. Therefore, the shape of this type of Dolmen is oval or square. They are different from other types of Dolmen with a basic rectangle shape. Representative examples include the Yongdamdong No. 6 Dolmen built with 11 flat plate types along with cover stones in an oval shape. This type is only seen on Jeju Island, and a similar type of Dolmen was found in Zhejiang in China.

This is the most representative feature of Dolmen, and is a huge stone placed on the tomb chambers. It is exposed in the ground or raised on huge supporting stones, and is also called a Gaesuk (蓋石), Taengsuk (撑石), or Sangsuk (上石).

It is called Jisuk or Goimdol because it supports a cover stone. For table type Dolmen, it is referred to as a flat plate that makes a tomb chamber as cover stones are supported by huge flat stone plates. For base type Dolmen, it is referred to as a stone supported by pillar shape or circular shaped stones. It plays a role to support cover stones and also prevent the destruction of tomb chambers as lower structures, and serves to make the cover stones look more magnificent.

There are stones placed near tomb chambers under cover stones or partitions made near them. They support the areas near tomb chambers and diffuse the weight of cover stones on tomb chambers, and there are types where the area of wide tombs or edges of them are partitioned. There are flat stone plates made by adding broken stones or regular stones or laying natural stones in one layer. The former is called Dolmuji or Juksuk (積石), and the latter is called Ggandol, Posuk (鋪石), or Busuk (敷石). The stone layered type made by placing stones in multiple layers around tomb chambers is called the Sukchuk type, and the one established with a hole near the tomb is called the Jugu type.

The stones covering tomb chambers protects bodies while preventing the destruction of tomb chambers from the weight of cover stones. Covering stones are divided into ones placed with one piece and multiple flat stone plates, and ones with multiple layers with one piece.

In the lower structure of Dolmen is the tomb chamber made with stones. Most of them are flat types with bodies vertically inserted by building stones or layering them. They are called Dolnul (石棺), Duldutnul (石樹), or Doldolrim (圍石).

It is possible to determine the gender, social status, and direction of the head of the dead Weapons, earthenware, and accessories are relics buried in tomb chambers. There relics are mostly maintained with their original shapes, and were placed in the tomb chambers with bodies. They were owned or made only for the relevant people as relics directly related to the dead. They provide important meaning to show gender and social status.

Most of the weapons are stone swords or stone arrowheads. Stone swords were found in one piece, but there are multiple stone arrowheads buried together. Stone swords have not been found in Liaoning in China, and only a few were found in North Korea. Many of them were found in southern areas of the Han River. Stone arrowheads from Dolmen are found with stone swords if they are buried relics. However, less than 10 of them were found around the stomach or waist. However, there was a site where 29 pieces of stone swords or copper arrowheads were found in Duk-chi, Boseong, Jeonnam, and 28 stone swords and 42 copper arrowheads were found together in Daeya-ri, Geochang, Gyeongnam.

Bronzeware,a rare metal that was only used by special classes in society, was mostly found as mandolin-shaped bronze daggers. However, there are also mandolin-shaped bronze arrowheads, bronze arrowheads, or Korean type daggers as well. The mandolin-shaped bronze daggers are also called Liaoning dagger from the name of a place where they were mainly excavated from. The mandolin-shaped bronze daggers mostly found in Dolmen were from the southern coast of Korea or Yeosu Peninsula including Geum River areas. Slender daggers were found in Dolmen in Sanjapo-ri, Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi-do, and Yeongamjangcheon-ri, Jeonnam, Korea.

Earthenware is divided into red earthenware and Gajimun earthenware . Red earthenware was made by using fine clay and iron oxidized, and glossing the surface. Since it is a red color, it is also called Hongdo, red-horse earthenware, or Dadoma earthenware. The circular shape with a neck it is only found in Dolmens in southern areas such as the Geum River, Nak-dong River, Bosung River, and the southern coast of Korea. Gajimun earthenware is the same shape but white, and there is Gajimun in the shoulder areas. I have mostly been excavated from Dolmen in the southern coast of Korea.

Accessories included Chunhasujke Gupeunok, Hwanok, Sook, and Byukokje Daerongok. Gopeunok was made with Chunhasukje with white remarks on a blue background. There are small holes on one side of the head. Pairs of Hwakoks and tens of Sooks were found in tomb chambers in Pyeongyeo-dong, Yeosu, and Jeonnam. There is a record that said “people form Mahan prioritize jade over gold or silver, and decorated them on their ears or necks,” showing how people in the society of Dolmen also decorated themselves with jade.

Ritual relics are found near tomb chambers or graves are divided into ones for “escorting funerals” (葬送用) to mourn for the dead, ones for religious events (祭儀用), related to ritual events for death, and life relics from the establishment of Dolmen. Relics for escorting funerals were placed in multiple particles from stone swords, or excavated right next to tomb chambers or between cover stones. The ones for religious events are divided into earthenware spread around after breaking them, and the life relics include whet stones and tool stones that were used when building Dolmen.
Most of these ritual relics are destroyed as particles. In addition, there are cases where the original shape was left, but the relics were broken into multiple particles. It is also regarded as an item of ritual events related to the death.

Why were relics put next to the dead? It was a result of condolences and respect for the dead at the last stage of their lives related to death, reflecting the afterlife and the current customs of the time.
Weapons served to protect them in their lives and also to overpower their opponents. They also symbolize power and social status. Stone swords are carve don cover stones of Dolmen in Orim-dong, Yeosu, with a man praying. This is interpreted as protecting the dead.
Other than stone swords, red earthenware was buried in Dolmens. This earthenware is connected with the afterlife, providing eternal life as a religious ritual. Seen from the perspective of the belief that there is another world after death, it can be seen as a ritual to provide blood to the dead. There are stone swords distributed in tomb chambers in Dolmen or red clay spread on top or at the bottom, or red stones are placed next to tomb chambers. The color red refers to restoration and resurrection in the afterlife.

The biggest feature of Dolmens is a huge cover stone. During the Dolmen construction process, desk type Dolmen were placed on top of supporting stones on the ground. Huge cover stones were moved to a place where the Dolmen were established. High levels of skill were required along with much time and manpower.

It was necessary to work on land by selecting a place to establish the Dolmen. The selection of a place must have been made upon agreement and with consideration from other groups.

The cover stones needed to establish Dolmen were obtained by cutting stones naturally separated from the area near a mountain and detached from a rock face. The joints of the rock face or were used or a hole was dug to use leverage to separate stones. This work required an expert such as a stonemason.

Many methods were used to move cover stones depending on their shapes and sizes. Generally, the cover stones might have been rolled over from a mountain. However, there must have been a route to move them to a gravesite. In order to conveniently move cover stones, they may have placed logs on the bottom and logs across them, and tied the cover stones that were pulled by many people. In addition, they must have used ice or icy roads in cold areas or Y-shaped wooden sleds. Lightweight cover stones were assumed to have been moved by pairs of workers. The ones close by might have been moved with leverage or a pair of worker, and the ones far away might have been moved by dragging.

First, a tomb partition was dug, creating a tomb chamber to place bodies in. In general, a plate stone or broken plate was used to create a rectangular shape or build it in a rectangular shape. When a tomb chamber was created, stone swords or red earthenware were used for accessories. In addition, weapons, accessories, or earthenware were placed next to bodies as well.

When a tomb chamber was created, supporting stones were placed, lying flat stones to partition tombs. Then the cover stones were lifted on a dirt ramp.

The most difficult work for establishing Dolmen was to accurately lift and maintain the balance of the supporting stones. A high level of civil engineering was required. The cover stones were lifted on top of dirt., followed by dirt being removed.

When Dolmen were built, rites were performed for the dead, or ritual events might have been performed for mobilized people. Broken earthenware and stoneware near the tomb partition is evidence. The establishment of Dolmen required groups with blood ties as well as neighbors as part of a community ritual event. In order to build a Dolmen, many people including those who created tomb chambers, moved stones, pulled cover stones, guided others, and supplied food needed to be mobilized from the community.

How many people were mobilized to move the dolmen cover stones has been revealed to some extent by experimental archaeology. The weight of the granite in Korea is 23 to 28 tons per 1㎥, which is within 25 tons. However, the actual size and weight of Dolmen differ depending on the features and shapes of stone. The actual weight of cover stones when moving Dolmen is estimated to be 1.8 to 2.0 tons. Thus, 16 to 20 people were needed to move a 1-ton stone 1 mile (1.6km), and 200 people were needed to move a huge stone using circular logs and rope according to the results of research.
According to an experiment conducted in Gochang, Jeonbuk, 85 people were mobilized to move a stone thatweighed9.8 tons 70 m for 4 hours. This experiment showed that a person can pull 120 to 160kg of weight, and more people are needed if others are brought together. As shown above, many people were used to move and establish Dolmen. At least 50 to 200-300 people seem to have been mobilized. Assuming that one or two people from a household were mobilized to establish Dolmen, about 1,000 to 1,500 people were needed in a population based on five-person house holds.
The mobilization of these people must have been a huge event in the Dolmen society of the time.

Among the grave in the Bronze Age, Dulnul grave, Um grave, and Doknul grave only had the function of a grave. However, Dolmen had other functions than as tombs. Three functions are classified according to the shape of the cover stone, lower structure, location, and the community as follows.

It was suggested that Dolmens were used as tombs since the 19thcentury. However, since human bones were found in the 13th Dolmen in Hwangseok-ri, Jecheon, Chungbuk, it was regarded as a general function. The size of a Dolmen was similar to that of a tomb, along with various lengths and widths of tomb chambers and the burial methods assumed to be applied with spread-burial, bending-burial, double burial, and cremation. As for grounds for a Dolmen to be used as a tomb, first of all, Dolmens were concentrated in a community in one place. Second, human bones were found in Dolmens as in tombs. Third, mixed burial was found in the establishment of tombs.

In the society where Dolmens were established, a symbolic memorial must have been needed to support cooperation and solidarity among many groups. With huge cover stones, Dolmens were assumed to have been built as part of huge events in a certain area. At this time, many people needed to be gathered, which would have been difficult to do without cooperation and solidarity. Therefore, Dolmens were a structure to indicate a boundary with other groups or public communities of many groups combined with ties, and were assumed to be established to serve as altars.

Tombstones symbolize a grave, indicate the power and authority of the group that established the grave, and also function to show a grave. Two main types existed in the Dolmen groups. One was an altar Dolmen and was located in the middle or on one specific side of a community. The other one was small or did not have a tomb chamber.

There are stories about the identities of people buried in Dolmens. It is very difficult to identify the people buried in Dolmens. Depending on the area in Korea, Dolmens tend to have different shapes and densities, and there is diversity in the community or shapes of tomb chambers. Therefore, there are many opinions. The people buried in these Dolmens might have different identities depending on the period since it took a long time to build the Dolmens. There might have been strong rulers who emerged earlier in a certain place, or later in other places.
On the other hand, there is a difference in the structure or distribution of tomb chambers depending on the community of Dolmens. Therefore, it is difficult to classify Dolmens as being used only by specific classes in society. There are stories about how the people buried in Dolmens were tribe leaders (族長) or rulers, or their family members, or joint tombs for a community with blood ties, or survivors of wars.

Dolmens have been revealed to be mostly used as tombs because human bones were excavated from them in Korea.
Most of the soil in Korea is acidic, so there are no traces of human bones, which are organic material and became corroded. There are examples where human bones were excavated from DolmensinHwangseok-ri, Jecheon, Chungbuk, Jung-do, Chuncheon, Gangwon, Jincheon-dong, Dalseokg, Daegu, and Daepyeong-rio, Jinju, and Gyeongnam. At the same time, there have been reports that human bones were excavated from Jilin in China and North Korea. Based on such human bones, it was possible to identify ritual customs from the burial method at the time when a Dolmen was made, the direction of a head, or mixed burial. In addition, there are data showing thoughts or religious aspects at that time. According to human bones excavated from Dolmens, it was normal for one person to be buried in a tomb chamber. However, there were doors that opened on one side of the table type, so there is a possibility for multiple people to be buried at the same time. As shown in the example of a Dolmen in Oduk-ri, Hwanghae-do, there was a special case where human bones were spread in a space partitioned in three or four areas in the tomb chamber.
There was the body of a person with complete bones in each of the two tomb chambers in Hwangseok-ri, Jecheon, Chungbuk, respectively. These human body turned out to be male adults buried in a direct form, and heights of them turned out to be 174cm and also 145-150cm. There were stone swords from Bopeunok or Daerongok buried together, and their ages were estimated to be the in their 20s or early 30s. Gopeunok excavated from this tomb chamber turned out to be excavated in pairs from a head, and earrings were there as a decoration. When the body of a person 174cm tall was restored, they had a bulging head with a huge nose and protruding cheekbones. This was relevant as an image of a long head instead of short head that was more related to a person from a Western country.

When Dolmens started being built is a common question. Dolmens were reported to be first established around 5,000 – 4,500 BC based on the absolute age measurement in Europe. This period is relevant to the Neolithic Period. One of the most outstanding characteristics of this time was related to agriculture when megalithic culture started spreading to areas in western Europe. At the same time, it started diffusing from the Brittany area in France.
The period when Dolmen started being built in Asian regions was before or after the 10th century BC in India, 4-5th century BC in Japan, 11-12th century BC in China, and 12th century BC in North Korea that recently ranged back to the 40th century BC. Megalithic culture in the world was closely related to agriculture so that Dolmens were said to be first built in the Neolithic Period. However, they turned out to be different in terms of shape or period depending on the area. In Korea, they started being built from the Bronze Age in the 12th century BC.

Since there is no record of the date of the establishment of Dolmens, the trend is to estimate the time period according to the years of relics and periods, or use scientific age measuring data to identify the period. According to absolute age measurement data, the period of establishing Dolmens turned out to be around the 12th to 9th century BC as a common feature. Therefore, Dolmens are regarded to be started being built from the 12th century BC.
North Korea has recently ranged the period from the 12th century BC in the past to the late 40th BC century according to the absolute age measurement in connection between Dolmens and the first Korean state founded by Dangun in 2333 BC. This period was proved on the basis of the absolute year measurement with the use of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), thermoluminescence method (TL), and fission track method (FT).
Somyul, relics relevant to the late Bronze Period, have been generally accepted to be around the 3rd to 2nd century BC due to the excavation of relics.
Therefore, Dolmens are regarded as an outcome of the Bronze Period and were created for 1,000 years from the 12th century BC to the 2nd century BC.

Why did Dolmen disappear? The disappearance of Dolmens was closely related to social changes. Society in the later period of Dolmens was when advanced culture was accepted from outside. The emergence of a ruling class started immediate integration of communities based on the background of each area. People tended to have different identities fromthe outcome of wars to secure agricultural land. Due to diversified classes with ruling class versus ruled classes among people in a community, there was a centralized power. On the other hand, wars of conquest were legally carried out. In the course of this, wooden tombs with burial mounds emerged instead of Dolmens.
In this type of tomb, a large number of bronzewares was buried that people used as they forcefully suppressed groups with bronze weapons or conducted ritual behaviors of groups with tools. In other words, rulers represented them selves to rule politics and rites as a unified society. Seen from this perspective, tombs other than Dolmens were accepted.
Next, it was the acceptance of advanced culture, which is referred to as ironware culture. When Dolmens were built, bronzeware were mostly weapons that became exaggerated and bigger to be used as tools. In other words, ironware was manufactured to be tools for daily life including agricultural tools, instead of weapons. Ironware made it possible to achieve three to four times more work efficiency than the work done with stoneware. The expansion of agricultural land with the use of agricultural tools requires much labor. With such a social background, it was waste to build Dolmens. Therefore, the people mobilized for the construction of Dolmens became mobilized for production activities, and the forms of tombs changed to underground graves or wooden graves that did not require much labor.