A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 32. Kunt Ernő emlékére. (1994)

TANULMÁNYOK - BYONG-MO KIM: Megalitikus kultúrák Koreában (magyar és angol nyelven)

is a port hole. The port hole on a dolmen is not very commonly unserved in Asia. One of few examples of the port hole was identified in a Caucasian dolmen of Maikop Culture.

7 Summing up the distribution of the dolmens in Asia one can easily note that they are widely observed in Asia except China manoevred by man power. Therefore functional relationship is assumed as follows: Physical Life Spiritual Life Rice cultivating Settled community Communal rites Constructing Dolmens If this functional relationship is accepted, the basic variable in the functional relationship is rice, which was introduced to the ancient Koreans via various routes. Some assumes it was from the north, other, regard it was from the southern route. In this connection it should be reminded that the origin of rice cultivation was somewhere in Asia with tropical climate, as the Near East for wheat and Africa for rye. Through whatever route the rice cultivation was learned by Korea, it was Southeast Asian who originally inspired the ancient Korean together with the new spiritual life, namely the megalith worship. Another aspect in regard to the economy life in the society of dolmen builders is that few fishing devices such as the fishing hook or net sinker are observed from dolmens. This fact again strongly implies us the main industry for the living of dolmen builders was farming. 4. Ideology of megaliths builders Dolmens in Korea are observed in groups, although independent single example is not rare. Seok, Kwangjun, a North Korean archaeologist, discussing the types and chronology of the dolmens in the northwestern part of Korea, mentioned some interesting phenomena.

8 That is 10-20 dolmens are located in a limited area along the river banks. Location Area No. of Dolmens Tu-mu-ri 300x60 m 67 To-dong 70x20 m 13 Kum-kyo-dong 65x20 m 14 Jung-won-san 55x30 m 19 This implies us dolmen builders seem to have chosen an area for a cemetery or a sacred place for their ancestors. This place should have been regarded to be a place for communal rites - not an ordinary ground. Yet, further interpretation of 7 Sulimirski, T., 1970, Prehistiric Russia, N. Y. 8 Seok, K. J. 1979. „A study on the dolmens in Northwestern Korea", Kokominsok 7. (Korea) 148