Have you ever heard the term dolmen?
Did you know that a word that only appeared in high school Japanese history textbooks can actually help you feel closer to the characteristics of ancient megalithic culture, and that there is actually much that is not known about the unique shape of these tombs?
While these mysterious dolmens can be seen in Japan as well, in neighboring South Korea, there are as many as 30,000 dolmens, accounting for half of the world's total. These densely populated dolmens, with their varying rock shapes and heights depending on the region, represent a unique culture and have been registered as a World Cultural Heritage site.
The structure of these dolmens is extremely simple, ranging from the common type where a table-shaped rock rests on a base stone, to more elaborate dolmens like those found on Jeju Island, which are surrounded by base stones and have a stone placed on top, resembling a stone chamber.
Here's a question: Do you know why this structure is called a dolmen?
Is it because it's a tomb with a large rock placed on top of a base stone?
The answer is no.
Most people think of them as tombs because they are labeled as "dolmens," and indeed, carbon monoxide poisoning has revealed human remains inside, but it is unknown whether dolmens were actually built as tombs in the first place. It is also unknown who built the first dolmen, for what purpose, or even what the original dolmen was.
Furthermore, since human remains are often not found inside these tombs , I personally believe they cannot be simply called tombs. (From here on, I will use the term "dolmen.")
Now, to return to the main point, the culture of dolmens is not limited to Korea and Japan. Structures believed to be dolmens are scattered all over the world.
These dolmen-like structures, as seen in the photographs, exist in various regions, primarily in the UK and South Korea, but also in Ireland, France, China, Spain, Sweden, Malaysia, India, Georgia, Bulgaria, and Guinea.
South Korea, Germany, and France, in particular, have many such structures remaining, and Spain has what is believed to be the world's oldest surviving dolmen, dating back to 7000 BC.
Despite their rich history, dolmens are often found in places that seem to have no causal connection to other countries, such as Guinea or India.
Photo believed to be of a dolmen in Guinea ↓
Indian dolmens ↓
You might wonder how it spread to such unconnected regions.
that's right.
The most mysterious thing about this building is,
"We don't know how it spread."
That's the thing.
There are two main possibilities to consider regarding this extremely difficult mystery.
The first theory is that each culture created the dolmen as a distinct cultural construct.
This is the most widely accepted theory, suggesting that ancient people built structures through their own individual cultures, but honestly, I still have my doubts.
Given the many common characteristics they share, it seems incredibly perplexing to me that they were built upon independent cultures.
However, it's not possible to generalize, as the spiral patterns found at the Bruna-bo-Nya archaeological site in Ireland sometimes resemble the spiral patterns on Jomon pottery.
The second theory is that the ancient people built the temples after encountering a common event or through trade.
This idea is somewhat difficult to grasp, but if we consider that they were built through trade, then this explanation makes sense. In fact, structures believed to be dolmens are mainly found along the coast, so it's possible to speculate that they spread by ship.
World map from 10,000 BC ↓
However, it is unlikely that dolmen structures spread from Europe to Korea, Japan, and even Malaysia through trade, and since no documents have been found, this theory simply lacks sufficient evidence to be proven.
Furthermore, considering whether the navigation technology to reach Korea, Guyana, and Malaysia existed at that time, this theory seems unrealistic.
Other theories include "it was transmitted by aliens" and "it's a derivative of menhir" (because the word dolmen is the same Breton language as the word menhir), but so far no evidence has been found to support these claims.
A mural carved into a dolmen that looks like an alien ↓
A dolmen in Brittany, the birthplace of the Breton language ↓
However, even the mysterious dolmens have some features that have been partially explained.
This theory suggests that dolmens, particularly those in the Brittany region, were used for equatorial rituals . This is because dolmens are always positioned east-west, with their openings facing east, indicating a preference for equatorial rites.
Another
interesting feature is that,
despite being located at the far ends of the Eurasian continent, the dolmens in Korea and Spain share the same form .
These structures known as dolmens, whose details remain largely unknown and which continue to raise many questions, stir people's imaginations and stand quietly to this day.