Oedo Island Dolmen No. 1

Dolmens are the representative tomb type of the Bronze Age, also called goindol, and are known mainly as the tombs of a ruling class that held economic wealth or political power. Korean dolmens are divided into the table type, in which four supporting stones are erected to form a stone chamber above ground with a huge flat capstone placed on top, and the go-board type, in which a stone chamber is made underground, small supporting stones are erected, and a capstone is placed on top. The group of dolmens in Oedo-dong, Jeju City, stands in the hilly area along Oedocheon Stream, which flows through the western part of Jeju City, and together with the dolmens at Gwangnyeong-ri, Aewol-eup, in the former Bukjeju County, forms a cluster of about twenty dolmens. Oedo Island Dolmen No. 1 stands beneath a steeply sloping stone wall, and its capstone, with a flat, dressed upper surface, measures 2.32 m in length, 1.96 m in width, and 0.89 m in thickness. The capstone bears 65 cup-marks of various sizes, said to have been carved as prayers for a good harvest or for the birth of children. Supporting stones are found on the east, west and south sides; on the south, where the ground is higher, three small stones support the capstone, while the other sides have supporting stones of the usual form. The dolmens of Jeju Island include types also found elsewhere in southern Korea, as well as forms unique to the island. The most distinctive features of Jeju's dolmens are that the burial chamber is placed above ground even though the dolmen is of the go-board type, and that, because they were built on sloping ground, the shape of the supporting stones can differ even within a single dolmen.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jeju City, Jeju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물