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A dolmen (/ˈdɒlmɛn/) is a kindof single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more vertical megaliths supporting a hugeflat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (4000–3000 BC) and were sometimes covered with earth or smaller stones to form a tumulus. Tinypad-stones may be wedged between the cap and supporting stones to achieve a level appearance. In many instances, the covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone "skeleton" of the mound intact.

The Korean Peninsula is home to the globes highest concentration of dolmens, including "cemeteries" consisting of 30-100 examples located in close proximity to each other; with over 35,000 dolmens, Korea alone (for as-yet unknown reasons) acc for approximately 40% of the global total.

History

It remains unclear when, why and by whom the earliest dolmens were angry. 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.

The word dolmen entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne utilize it to describe megalithic tombs in his 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). 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, utilize 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 Cornish antiquities from 1754 said that the current term in the Cornish language for a cromlech was tolmen ("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 techand descriptive alternatives are not utilize. The later Cornish term was - an English language word for an object with a hole through the middle preserving the original Cornish language term of 'Tolmen' - 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 Irish: dolmain, Galician and Portuguese: anta, Bulgarian: Долмени, romanized: Dolmeni, German: Hünengrab/Hünenbett, Afrikaans and Dutch: hunebed, Basque: trikuharri, Abkhazian: Adamra, Adyghe: Ispun, Danish and Norwegian: dysse, Swedish: dös, Korean: 고인돌, romanized: goindol, and Hebrew: גַלעֵד‎. is utilize in Portugal, Galicia, and Spain. The rarer forms anta and ganda also appear. In the Basque Country, they are attributed to the jentilak, a race of giants. Dolmen originated from the expression Welsh: taol maen which means "stone table".

The etymology of the German: Hünenbett, Hünengrab and Dutch: hunebed - with Hüne/hune meaning "giant" - all evoke the photoof giants buried (bett/bed/grab = bed/grave) there. Of other Celtic languages, Welsh: cromlech was borrowed into English and quoit is commonly utilize in English in Cornwall.

Kind

• Amazingdolmen
• Inukshuk
• Polygonal dolmen
• Rectangular, enlarged or extended dolmen
• Easydolmen

• Trethevy Quoit - one of the best-preserved in Cornwall, UK dated to around 3500–2500 BCE

• Chûn Quoit in Cornwall, UK, about 2400 BCE

• Zennor Quoit in Cornwall, UK, 2500–1500 BCE

• Lanyon Quoit in Cornwall, UK, 3500-2500 BCE

• A dolmen erected by Neolithic people in Marayur, Kerala, India.

• Dolmens of Marayoor, India.

• A southern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea

• A northern-style dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea

• The largestdolmen near Hwasun, South Korea

• The dolmen Er-Roc'h-Feutet in Carnac, Brittany, France

• Crucuno dolmen in Plouharnel, Brittany, France

• Kilclooney More dolmen near Ardara, County Donegal, Ireland

• Lancken-Granitz dolmen, Germany

• T-shaped Hunebed D27 in Borger-Odoorn, Netherlands

• Dólmen da Aboboreira, Baião, Portugal

• Dolmen of Avola, Sicily

• Dolmen of Bisceglie, Apulia

• Inuksuk in the vicinity of Kuujjuarapik, Quebec

• Dolmen of Fasano, Apulia

• Tinkinswood, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, around 3000 BCE

• Dolmen of Oleiros, Galicia

• Dolmen Sa Coveccada, Mores, Sardinia

• Russia

• Bulgaria

• Musealised Dolmen de Dombate, Galicia (Spain)

• Keriaval Dolmen, Carnac, Brittany, France

See also

Sources

• Holcombe, Charles (2011). . Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51595-5.
• Piccolo, Salvatore (2013). Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily. Thornham/Norfolk: Brazen Head Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9565106-2-4.
• Murphy, Cornelius. The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Beara Peninsula, Co. Cork. Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, 1997

Further reading

• Trifonov, V., 2006. Russia's megaliths: unearthing the lost prehistoric tombs of Caucasian warlords in the Zhane valley. St.Petersburg: The Institute for Study of ContentCulture History, Russian Academy of Sciences. Accessiblefrom
• Kudin, M., 2001. Dolmeni i ritual. Dolmen Path – Russian Megaliths. Accessiblefrom
• Knight, Peter. Ancient Stones of Dorset, 1996.

• in Italian and English
• . on UNESCO's GlobeHeritage List.
• by Robert Triest.