Dolmen

Dolmen, or Hunebeds - (H�nenbetten or H�nengr�ber in German) are a large number of megalithic stone grave sites consisting of large boulders set in formation around burial sites. H�nenbetten boulders still remain by the thousands in northern Europe, all along the Baltic Coast lands.

Boulders were placed partially underground to create chambers; therefore, dolmen are also called chamber graves. A huge semi-square, somewhat flat boulder was laid on top, for cover, giving the grave a mushroom-like appearance.

In Mecklenburg and Pomerania, large numbers of these graves were disturbed when towns and cities were built. The boulders came in handy for construction and road building.

There are still many left today, even with the extreme density of population in Germany and all over Europe. There are more than 1000 hunebeds on the island of R�gen alone.

A dolmen is also a kind of tomb, or prehistoric cemetery. They can be found all over the world, but Korea is said to have 50% of the world's total on its grounds. The numerous ones included here were constructed around the 1st millennium BC.

The dolmen in Kanghwa (Ganghwa in new spelling) 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 x 7.1 x 5.5 meters.