Dolmen

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A dolmen, (Template:IPAc-en) 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 (4000Template:Ndash3000 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.Template:Sfnp 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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

EtymologyEdit

Celtic or FrenchEdit

The word dolmen entered archaeology when Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne used it to describe megalithic tombs in his {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (1796) using the spelling dolmin (the current spelling was introduced about a decade later and had become standard in French by about 1885).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne, Template:Google books, 1796–97.</ref> Some sources indicate that dolmen is Breton,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and other sources refer to dolmen as a "continental term."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} – the name of another dolmen-like monument is Mên-an-Tol 'stone with hole' (Standard Written Form: Men An Toll.)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In Irish Gaelic, dolmens are called Template:Langx.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

GermanicEdit

Dolmens are known by a variety of names in other languages, including Galician and Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Afrikaans and Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Abkhaz: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Adyghe: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}

Danish and Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx, and Template:Langx. Granja is used in Portugal and Galicia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The forms anta and ganda also appear. In Catalan-speaking areas, they are known simply as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, but also by a variety of folk names, including {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('cave'),<ref name=GEC>Template:Cite GREC</ref> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('crate' or 'coffin'),<ref name=caixa>Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. "caixa" (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. Template:ISBN.</ref> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('table'),<ref name=taula>Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. "taula" (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. Template:ISBN.</ref> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('chest'),<ref name=GEC/> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('hut'), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('hut'), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('slab'), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('pallet slab'),<ref>Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. "llosa de jaça" (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. Template:ISBN.</ref> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('rock') or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('stone'), usually combined with a second part such as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('of the Arab'),<ref name=caixa/> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('of the Moor/s'),<ref name=caixa/><ref>Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. "cova" (in Catalan). In: Diccionari català-valencià-balear. Palma: Moll, 1930–1962. Template:ISBN.</ref> {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('of the thief'), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('of the devil'), {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ('of Roland').<ref name=taula/><ref name=caixa/> In the Basque Country, they are attributed to the jentilak, a race of giants.

The etymology of the Template:Langx and Template:Langx – with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} meaning 'giant' – all evoke the image of giants buried ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} = 'bed/grave') there. Of other Celtic languages, Welsh {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} was borrowed into English and quoit is commonly used in English in Cornwall.

Western EuropeEdit

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.<ref>Lewis, S. (2009) Guide to the Menhirs and other Megaliths of Central Brittany, Nezert Books, Template:ISBN</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Middle EastEdit

Dolmens can be found in the Levant, some along the Jordan Rift Valley (Upper Galilee in Israel, the Golan Heights,<ref name=FIAA>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.</ref> Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and southeast Turkey.<ref name=Fraser18>James A. Fraser, Dolmens in the Levant, 1st ed., 2018: "Description". Routledge homepage. Access 12 Nov 2023.</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

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."<ref name=Fraser18/> In the Levant, they are of Early Bronze rather than Late Neolithic age.<ref name=Fraser18/> 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.<ref name=Fraser18/> In the Levant, geological constraints led to a local burial tradition with a variety of tomb forms, dolmens being one of them.<ref name=Fraser18/>

KoreaEdit

Dolmens were built in Korea from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age, with about 40,000 to be found throughout the peninsula.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2000,<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (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.<ref name=":0" /> They are mainly found on sedimentary plains, where they are grouped in rows parallel to the direction of the river or stream.<ref name=":0" /> Those found in hilly areas are grouped in the direction of the hill.<ref name=":0" />

IndiaEdit

Marayoor, KeralaEdit

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.

TypesEdit

See alsoEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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Works citedEdit

Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

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|CitationClass=web }} on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

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