Korea's ancient dolmens take center stage in Gochang

Long before the rise of modern architecture, Bronze Age communities across the Korean Peninsula were moving massive boulders to erect giant stone tombs, creating one of the world's dense concentration of megalithic monuments. Today, researchers are looking beyond the stones themselves to ask a broader question: What did the landscape look like when these prehistoric structures were built?

International archaeologists and heritage experts will gather at the Gochang Well Park Hotel Convention Center, Thursday, for a major conference titled "Formation and Landscape Restoration of the Gochang Dolmen Site." Co-hosted by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage (Wanju Institute) and the Gochang County government, the symposium aims to reconstruct the prehistoric environment surrounding Korea's most iconic dolmens and create new strategies for their preservation.

The Gochang dolmen site, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000, along with similar sites in Hwasun and Ganghwa Island, is famous for its extraordinary scale and diversity. The area houses hundreds of prehistoric stone monuments exhibiting various structural styles — from "table-type" dolmens built with raised stone slabs above ground to "capstone-type" tombs set flat over underground burial chambers.

While traditional research focused heavily on excavating artifacts, modern heritage management is shifting toward understanding how these megaliths interacted with their natural surroundings. The conference will examine early environmental surveys of the alluvial plains near Gochang, the strategic sourcing of construction stones by Bronze Age builders and broader spatial classifications of the monuments.

To place Korea’s ancient monuments in a global context, scholars from Japan, China and the United Kingdom will share insights from their own prehistoric sites. Presenters include Susan Greaney from the University of Exeter, who will discuss the structural management and landscape restoration of Britain’s famous megaliths, alongside researchers examining dolmen lineages in Japan’s Shimane Prefecture and China’s Liaodong Peninsula. Yonsei University professor Ha Moon-sik will deliver the keynote address, highlighting the international historical significance of Gochang’s megalithic culture.

Korea accounts for more than 40 percent of all known dolmens worldwide, with the Gochang region serving as an epicenter for this prehistoric tradition. As urbanization and climate change threaten ancient cultural sites globally, researchers hope the conference will spark deeper cross-border collaboration in heritage conservation.

"By examining research from global megalithic sites, we can better chart the future preservation and practical use of the Gochang site," said an official at the Wanju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, signaling a new chapter in bridging Korea’s prehistoric past with modern preservation technology.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.