Dolmen Group in Orim-dong, Yeosu

Dolmens are the representative tombs of the Bronze Age, also known as goindol, and are generally understood to be the graves of a ruling class who held economic wealth or political power. Korean dolmens are divided into the table type, in which four support stones are set upright 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 above it before a capstone is laid on top. The dolmens of Orim-dong, Yeosu, are a typical example of the go-board type, with about ten distributed across the valley flatland, forming a cluster of dolmens whose capstones measure roughly 3–4 m in length. Artefacts found here include polished stone daggers and plain coarse pottery; in particular, on the side of the capstone of Dolmen No. 5, which measures 4.1 m in length and 2.76 m in width, carved images of human and animal figures were discovered. Among them, notable is a human figure kneeling to the left of a centrally placed polished stone dagger, offering something with both hands, and another human figure standing beside it. This is thought to symbolise a funerary rite rooted in ancestor worship, expressing the idea of protecting the deceased and the grave. The carving of a stone dagger and human figures on a dolmen is a unique example in Korea, and such images are regarded as extremely valuable material for the study of Bronze Age society and belief, as well as of dolmens themselves.

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Where it is

Region

Yeosu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물