Hwasun Byeoksong-ri Dolmen Group

A jiseokmyo, or dolmen, is a representative tomb type of the Bronze Age, generally understood to be the burial of a ruling class that held economic wealth or political power. Dolmens in Korea are divided into the table type, in which four support stones are erected to form a stone chamber topped with a huge, flat capstone, and the go-board type, in which a stone chamber is built underground with small support stones set beneath a capstone. The dolmen group at Byeoksong-ri, Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do, is spread across the flatland of the Sapyeongcheon Stream in the upper reaches of the Boseonggang River, with around 20 go-board-type dolmens arranged in a long row running east–west along the stream. Most measure around 2–3 m, and three of them exceed 3 m. The largest is a typical go-board-type dolmen with four support stones, measuring 3.4 m long and 3.2 m wide, and stands as the representative dolmen at the centre of the group. Dolmens of this kind carry greater symbolic significance as monuments of the community or displays of power than as functioning tombs. One of the dolmens here is known as 'Baebawi'; beneath its capstone, which measures 2.5 m long and 1.9 m wide, the burial chamber appears to have been built with four (originally six) well-dressed long stone slabs. The Byeoksong-ri dolmens in the upper Boseonggang River are an important site for comparison with the dolmens found in the upper Yeongsangang River.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hwasun, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물