Samgeo-dong Dolmen Group

Dolmens (jiseongmyo) are the representative tombs of the Bronze Age, also called goindol, and are known mainly as the tombs of a ruling class with economic wealth or political power. Korean dolmens are divided into the table type, in which four support stones are set up to form a stone chamber topped with a huge flat capstone, and the go-board (baduk) type, in which a stone chamber is built underground with small support stones set beneath the capstone. These dolmens, in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, are of the go-board type: a total of 49 are distributed in two clusters on hills within about 200 m of one another. Of the 49 dolmens, around 20 lack the support stones that hold up the capstone, and the capstones are irregular in shape, being round or oval. One cluster of 23 dolmens lies on an east-west line; only two have thick capstones, 1 to 1.3 m, while the rest are comparatively thin. The other cluster is gathered in the shape of the Big Dipper, and all are relatively small. Since there is no place nearby to obtain stone, the dolmens appear to have been built with stone brought in from elsewhere, and the name of the village, Chilseong (Seven Stars), seems to derive from the arrangement in which the dolmens were placed.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwangsan-gu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료