Dolmen#Overview

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File:Macro, Liquid drop on Feather, 70-300mm-Coupler & reverse Lens-213.jpg, the Burren, County Clare, Ireland]]

File:Dolmens in Amadalavalasa.jpg, Andhra Pradesh, India]]

A dolmen, ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɒ|l|m|ɛ|n}}) or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000{{ndash}}3000 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.{{sfnp|Murphy|1997|p=43}} In many instances, the covering has eroded away, leaving only the stone "skeleton".

In Sumba (Indonesia), dolmens are still commonly built (about 100 dolmens each year) for collective graves according to lineage. The traditional village of Wainyapu has some 1,400 dolmens.{{cite journal |last1= Jeunesse |first1= Christian |last2= Bec-Drelon |first2= Noisette |last3= Boulestin |first3= Bruno |last4= Denaire |first4= Anthony |date= 2021 |title= Aspects de la gestion des dolmens et des tombes collectives actuels dans les sociétés de l'île de Sumba (Indonésie) |trans-title= Ethnoarchaeology of funeral practices: aspects of the management of current dolmens and collective tombs in the tribal societies of Sumba Island (Indonesia) |journal= Préhistoires méditerranéennes |language= fr |volume= 9 |issue= 2 |pages= 165–179 (see § 8) |url= https://journals.openedition.org/pm/3098 |access-date= 2024-06-15 }}

Etymology

=Celtic or French=

The word dolmen entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his {{Lang|fr|Origines gauloises}} (1796) using the spelling dolmin (the current spelling was introduced about a decade later and had become standard in French by about 1885).{{cite book|last=Bakker|first=Jan Albert|title=Megalithic Research in the Netherlands, 1547–1911|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MQiK5ATCL1wC|year=2009|publisher=Sidestone Press|isbn=978-9088900341 |page=36}}Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne, {{google books|vmpAAAAAcAAJ|Origines gauloises. Celles des plus anciens peuples de l'Europe puisées dans leur vraie source ou recherche sur la langue, l'origine et les antiquités des Celto-bretons de l'Armorique, pour servir à l'histoire ancienne et moderne de ce peuple et à celle des Français|page=PR1}}, 1796–97. Some sources indicate that dolmen is Breton,{{Cite web |title=Dolmen – Ancient Megalithic Structures & Archaeology |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/dolmen |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} although the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) describes its origin as "Modern French" and argues that de la Tour d'Auvergne used the Cornish word for a cromlech, tolmên, but misspelled it as dolmin,{{Cite book |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/dolmen_n |title=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |orig-year=1989|year= 2024 |edition=2nd}} and other sources refer to dolmen as a "continental term."{{Cite journal |last=McGuinness |first=David |date=1996 |title=Edward Lhuyd's Contribution to the Study of Irish Megalithic Tombs |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25549806 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |volume=126 |pages=62–85 |jstor=25549806}} Whatever the origin, dolmen has replaced cromlech as the usual English term in archaeology, when the more technical and descriptive alternatives are not used. The later Cornish term was quoit – an English-language word for an object with a hole through the middle preserving the original Cornish language term of {{Lang|kw|tolmen}} – the name of another dolmen-like monument is Mên-an-Tol 'stone with hole' (Standard Written Form: Men An Toll.){{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/nov/12/maevkennedy1|title = Vandals threaten stone age monuments| website=TheGuardian.com |date = 12 November 1999}}

In Irish Gaelic, dolmens are called {{langx|ga|dolmain}}.{{Cite web|title=dolmen – Translation to Irish Gaelic with audio pronunciation of translations for dolmen by New English-Irish Dictionary|url=https://www.focloir.ie/en/dictionary/ei/dolmen|access-date=2020-11-26|website=www.focloir.ie}}

=Germanic=

Dolmens are known by a variety of names in other languages, including Galician and {{langx|pt|anta}}, {{langx|bg|translit=Dolmeni|Долмени}}, {{langx|de|Hünengrab/Hünenbett}}, Afrikaans and {{langx|nl|hunebed}}, {{langx|eu|trikuharri}}, Abkhaz: {{Lang|ab-latn|Adamra}}, Adyghe: {{Lang|ady-latn|Ispun}}

Danish and {{langx|no|dysse}}, {{langx|sv|dös}}, {{langx|ko|translit=goindol (go-in = 'propped' + dol = 'stone')|고인돌}}, and {{langx|he|גַלעֵד}}. Granja is used in Portugal and Galicia.{{cite web|url= https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=14333}} The forms anta and ganda also appear. In Catalan-speaking areas, they are known simply as {{Lang|ca|dolmen}}, but also by a variety of folk names, including {{Lang|ca|cova}} ('cave'),{{Cite GREC|dolmen|title=Dolmen}} {{Lang|ca|caixa}} ('crate' or 'coffin'),Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. [https://dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp "caixa"] (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. {{ISBN|8427300255}}. {{Lang|ca|taula}} ('table'),Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. [https://dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp "taula"] (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. {{ISBN|8427300255}}. {{Lang|ca|arca}} ('chest'), {{Lang|ca|cabana}} ('hut'), {{Lang|ca|barraca}} ('hut'), {{Lang|ca|llosa}} ('slab'), {{Lang|ca|llosa de jaça}} ('pallet slab'),Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. [https://dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp "llosa de jaça"] (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. {{ISBN|8427300255}}. {{Lang|ca|roca}} ('rock') or {{Lang|ca|pedra}} ('stone'), usually combined with a second part such as {{Lang|la|de l'alarb}} ('of the Arab'), {{Lang|ca|del/de moro/s}} ('of the Moor/s'),Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. [https://dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp "cova"] (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. {{ISBN|8427300255}}. {{Lang|ca|del lladre}} ('of the thief'), {{Lang|ca|del dimoni}} ('of the devil'), {{Lang|ca|d'en Rotllà/Rotllan/Rotlan/Roldan}} ('of Roland'). In the Basque Country, they are attributed to the jentilak, a race of giants.

The etymology of the {{langx|de|Hünenbett, Hünengrab}} and {{langx|nl|hunebed}} – with {{Lang|de|Hüne}}/{{Lang|nl|hune}} meaning 'giant' – all evoke the image of giants buried ({{Lang|de|bett}}/{{Lang|nl|bed}}/{{Lang|de|grab}} = 'bed/grave') there. Of other Celtic languages, Welsh {{Lang|cy|cromlech}} was borrowed into English and quoit is commonly used in English in Cornwall.

Western Europe

The oldest dolmens found in Western Europe are roughly 7,000 years old. Although archaeological evidence is unclear regarding their creators, the structures are often associated with tombs or burial chambers. Human remains, sometimes accompanied by artefacts, have been found in proximity of dolmen sites. While the remains can by analyzed with radiocarbon dating, it is difficult to confirm whether said remains coincide with the date the stones were originally set in place.Lewis, S. (2009) Guide to the Menhirs and other Megaliths of Central Brittany, Nezert Books, {{ISBN|978-9522705952}}

Early in the 20th century, before the advent of scientific dating, Harold Peake proposed that the dolmens of western Europe were evidence of cultural diffusion from the eastern Mediterranean. This "prospector theory" surmised that Aegean-origin prospectors had moved westward in search of metal ores, starting before 2200 BCE, and had carried with them the concept of megalithic architecture.{{cite journal |last1=Peake |first1=Harold |title=68. The Origin of the Dolmen |journal=Man |date=1916 |volume=16 |pages=116–121 |doi=10.2307/2788934 |jstor=2788934 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2788934 |access-date=28 July 2024 |issn=0025-1496}}

Middle East

Dolmens can be found in the Levant, some along the Jordan Rift Valley (Upper Galilee in Israel, the Golan Heights,[https://www.friendsofiaa.org/news/2020/7/12/megalithic-structures-in-the-golan-and-the-galilee-reveal-rock-art-of-a-mysterious-ancient-culture Megalithic Structures in the Golan and the Galilee Reveal Rock Art of a Mysterious Ancient Culture], Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority, New York,12 July 2020. Accessed 12 Nov 2023. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and southeast Turkey.James A. Fraser, Dolmens in the Levant, 1st ed., 2018: [https://www.routledge.com/Dolmens-in-the-Levant/Fraser/p/book/9780367891954 "Description"]. Routledge homepage. Access 12 Nov 2023.{{Citation|last=Fraser|first=James A.|title=Approaching dolmens in the Levant|year=2018|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315147796-1|work=Dolmens in the Levant|pages=3–9|location=Abingdon, Oxon|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315147796-1 |isbn=9781315147796 |access-date=2021-12-22}}

Dolmens in the Levant belong to a different, unrelated tradition to that of Europe, although they are often treated "as part of a trans-regional phenomenon that spanned the Taurus Mountains to the Arabian Peninsula." In the Levant, they are of Early Bronze rather than Late Neolithic age. They are mostly found along the Jordan Rift Valley's eastern escarpment, and in the hills of the Galilee, in 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. In the Levant, geological constraints led to a local burial tradition with a variety of tomb forms, dolmens being one of them.

Korea

File:Example of a southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island.jpg, South Korea]]

Dolmens were built in Korea from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age, with about 40,000 to be found throughout the peninsula.{{Cite web |title=고인돌 Dolmen |url=https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0003901 |access-date=2023-11-10 |website=Encyclopedia of Korean Culture |language=ko}} In 2000, the dolmen groups of Jukrim-ri and Dosan-ri in Gochang, Hyosan-ri and Daesin-ri in Hwasun, and Bujeong-ri, Samgeori and Osang-ri in Ganghwa gained World Cultural Heritage status.{{Cite web |date=2007-03-24 |title=Korean National Heritage Online |url=http://www.heritage.go.kr/eng/her/her_08.jsp |access-date=2023-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070324210503/http://www.heritage.go.kr/eng/her/her_08.jsp |archive-date=2007-03-24 }} (See Gochang, Hwasun and Ganghwa Dolmen Sites.)

They are mainly distributed along the West Sea coastal area and on large rivers from the Liaoning region of China (the Liaodong Peninsula) to Jeollanam-do. In North Korea, they are concentrated around the Taedong and Jaeryeong Rivers. In South Korea, they are found in dense concentrations in river basins, such as the Han and Nakdong Rivers, and in the west coast area (Boryeong in South Chungcheong Province, Buan in North Jeolla Province, and Jeollanam-do. They are mainly found on sedimentary plains, where they are grouped in rows parallel to the direction of the river or stream. Those found in hilly areas are grouped in the direction of the hill.

India

= Marayoor, Kerala =

Also called Muniyaras, these dolmens belong to the Iron Age. These dolmenoids were burial chambers made of four stones placed on edge and covered by a fifth stone called the cap stone. Some of these Dolmenoids contain several burial chambers, while others have a quadrangle scooped out in laterite and lined on the sides with granite slabs. These are also covered with cap stones. Dozens of dolmens around the area of old Siva temple (Thenkasinathan Temple) at Kovilkadavu on the banks of the River Pambar and also around the area called Pius nagar, and rock paintings on the south-western slope of the plateau overlooking the river have attracted visitors.

Apart from the dolmens of Stone Age, several dolmens of Iron Age exist in this region especially on the left side of river Pambar as is evident from the usage of neatly dressed granite slabs for the dolmens. At least one of them has a perfectly circular hole of 28 cm diameter inside the underground chamber. This region has several types of dolmens. Large number of them are overground with about 70–90 cm height. Another type has a height 140–170 cm. There is an overground dolmen with double length up to 350 cm. Fragments of burial urns are also available in the region near the dolmens. This indicates that the dolmens with 70–90 cm height were used for burial of the remains of people of high social status. Burial urns were used for the burial of the remains of commoners. The dolmens with raised roofs might have been used for habitation of people. Why some people lived in the cemeteries has not been satisfactorily explained.

Types

{{annotated link|Great dolmen}}
{{Annotated link|Inuksuk}}
{{annotated link|Polygonal dolmen}}
{{annotated link|Rectangular dolmen}}
{{annotated link|Simple dolmen}}

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: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: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, Portugal

File:Dolmen di Avola.JPG|Dolmen of Avola, Sicily

File:Bisceglie dolmen della chianca 5.JPG|Dolmen of Bisceglie, Apulia

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, Galicia

File:Mores02.jpg|Dolmen Sa Coveccada, Mores, Sardinia

File:Dolmen Russia Kavkaz Jane 1.jpg|Russia

File:Долмен Начови чаири.jpg|Bulgaria

File:Dolmen-Keriaval.jpg|Keriaval Dolmen, Carnac, Brittany, France

References

= Works cited =

{{cite book |last=Murphy |first=Cornelius |title=The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Beara Peninsula, Co. Cork |publisher=Department of Archaeology, University College Cork |year=1997}}{{missing ISBN}}

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20070324210503/http://www.heritage.go.kr/eng/her/her_08.jsp World heritage site of dolmen in Korea]
[https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1KaV195j0kPMHJfm2Qa9U5a461eA The Megalith Map]
[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/ The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map]
{{cite web|url= https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/977 |title=Dolmen (Goindol) sites in Korea }} on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20080116083508/http://www.jerseyheritagetrust.org/sites/hougue%20bie/hougue.html Jersey Heritage Trust]
[https://www.ringingcedarsofrussia.org/dolmens/ Dolmens of Russia]
[https://rgdn.info/en/dolmeny._chast_2._kak_stroilis_i_zachem_gipotezy Dolmens. Part 2. How and for which purpose were they built? Hypotheses]