Dolmen

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Poulnabrone dolmen in County Clare, Ireland

For the french TV miniseries, see Dolmen (TV miniseries).

Dolmens (also known as cromlechs, antas, Hünengräber, Hunebedden, quoits, and portal dolmens) are a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Most date from the early Neolithic period in Britain (4000 BC to 3000 BC). Dolmens were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, though in many cases that covering has weathered away, leaving only the stone 'skeleton' of the burial mound intact.

1 Etymology
2 Dolmen sites
3 Other photos
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Etymology

Dolmen means "stone table" in Breton , and was first used archaeologically by Théophile Corret de la Tour d'Auvergne. The etymology of the German Hünenbett or Hünengrab and Dutch Hunebed all invoke the imagery of giants building the structures. Of other Celtic languages, "cromlech" derives from Welsh and "quoit" is commonly used in Cornwall. Anta is the term used in Portugal.

[edit] Dolmen sites

T-shaped Hunebed D27 in Borger-Odoorn, Netherlands.

Dolmen da Aboboreira, Baião, Portugal.

The dolmen Er-Roc'h-Feutet found in Carnac, in Brittany, France. An inscription proclaims ownership by the state of France.

[edit] Europe

Megalithic tombs are found from the Baltic Sea and North Sea coasts, south to Spain and Portugal. Hunebedden are chamber tombs similar to dolmens and date to the middle Neolithic (Funnelbeaker culture, 4th millennium BC). They consist of a kerb surrounding an oval mound which covered a rectangular chamber of stones with the entrance on one of the long sides. Some have a more complex layout and include an entrance passage giving them a T-shape. It has been suggested that this means they are related to the Passage graves found in Denmark and elsewhere.

Dolmen sites fringe the Irish Sea and are found in south east Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. In Ireland, however, dolmens are more to be found on the west coast, particularly the Burren and Connemara, where some of the more well known examples, such as Poulnabrone, are to be found. Examples have also been found in northern Ireland where they may have co-existed with the Court cairn tombs . It is thought that the dolmens themselves evolved from a simpler cist burial method.

Amongst the vast neolithic collections of the Carnac stones, in Brittany, France, several dozen dolmens are found.

In Spain dolmens can be found in Galicia (such as Axeitos, pictured below), Catalonia (like Romanyá de la Selva) and Andalusia (like the Cueva de Menga).

Many dolmens can be found all over Portugal, from the more simple ones to the more complex examples of megalithic architecture, such as the Almendres Cromlech or the Anta Grande do Zambujeiro.

In Mecklenburg, Pomerania and Drenthe, Netherlands, large numbers of these graves were disturbed when towns and cities were built. The boulders were used in construction and road building. There are still many thousands left today in Europe: for example, more than a thousand on the island of Rügen alone.

[edit] Asia

Similar tombs can be found all over the world. Korea has many of the Asian dolmens, dating from the 1st millennium BC. The dolmen in Ganghwa is a northern-type, table-shaped dolmen where ancestral rites were held. It is the biggest stone of this kind in South Korea, measuring 2.6 by 7.1 by 5.5 metres. The number of dolmens in North and South Korea, approximately containing 30,000 dolmens, is about 40% of the total number of dolmens in the world. There are also dolmens in Kerala, India, about 7 km from Marayoor, Kerala, near the small village of Piousnagar.

[edit] Middle East

Dolmens are also found in Syria, Jordan and Israel, in the Golan Heights.

[edit] Eurasia

Over 3000 dolmens and other structures can be found in the North-Western Caucasus region of Russia, where more and more dolmens are discovered in the mountains each year.

[edit] Other photos

Ganghwa dolmen, South Korea	Kwansan dolmen in Hwanghae, North Korea	Knocknakilla Dolmen, Ireland	Wedge Tomb at Glantane east, Ireland
Dolmen de Axeitos, Galicia, Spain.	Chûn Quoit, in Penwith, Cornwall, UK.	Hunebed of Noordlaren (G1) The Netherlands.	Poulnabrone dolmen, Ireland.