Hangni Dolmen Group, Hapcheon

Dolmens (jiseokmyo), a representative tomb type of Korea's Bronze Age also known as goindol, are generally classified into northern-style, southern-style and capstone-style forms. They are known mainly as the tombs of a ruling class holding economic wealth or political power. In Korea, the type with four supporting stones erected to form a stone chamber above ground, topped with a huge flat capstone, is called the northern or table style, while the type with a stone chamber built underground beneath small supporting stones and a capstone is called the southern or checkerboard style. Within the southern style, examples without supporting stones are classed separately as the capstone style. The Hangni Dolmen Group, Hapcheon shows the typical features of the prehistoric southern-style dolmen, with two supporting stones beneath each capstone and a stone-lined coffin tomb (seokgwanmyo) below. The dolmens lie among the paddies and fields at the end of the northern slope of a low hill in Hak-ri, Deokgok-myeon. The capstones are rectangular, measuring 1–3 m in length, 0.7–1.8 m in width and about 1 m in height, and are clustered together over an area of about 200 pyeong. Pottery presumed to date from the Samhan or Gaya period has been excavated around the dolmens.

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Where it is

Region

Hapcheon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물