Dayul-ri and Dangha-ri Dolmens, Paju

North of Paju's Unjeong new town, Bronze Age dolmens lie scattered through the pine woods on the slopes of Jangmyeongsan. The Dayul-ri and Dangha-ri Dolmens form the largest dolmen group in northern Gyeonggi-do, the survivors of more than a hundred that once stood here. Walking the forest path, you can see capstones propped on their supporting stones and picture the Bronze Age village of the people who built them.

History: from over a hundred to around twenty

A dolmen is a tomb with a huge capstone set above ground over supporting stones and a burial chamber. Dolmens are generally thought to be the graves of an elite with wealth or political power. Korean archaeologists divide them into table dolmens, with the chamber above ground; go-board dolmens, with an underground chamber and short props; and capstone dolmens, with no props at all.

These dolmens lie at 60–80 m above sea level on low hills running south-east from Jangmyeongsan (102 m). The sites are split between Dayul-ri and Dangha-ri on paper, but they share one ridge and were probably once a single large group. The hills where Dayul-dong, Dangha-dong and Gyoha-dong meet held more than 100 dolmens, but most were destroyed when military facilities were built and only about 20 remain. The best-preserved were listed as a Gyeonggi-do Monument on 5 June 1992. A few were moved and re-erected elsewhere, including at the Gyeonggi Provincial Office, along Tongil-ro and at the Onyang Folk Museum.

What to see

• Table and capstone dolmens side by side: excavation showed that both types were built here. Compare how the broad capstones rest on their props inside the small fenced enclosures in the woods.
• Grave goods: the chambers mainly yielded stone tools: polished stone daggers, arrowheads, semi-lunar knives and chisels. Whetstones were also collected at Dangha-ri, where one dolmen has an oval stone-built substructure.
• Bronze Age house: while investigating the Dangha-ri dolmens, archaeologists uncovered a long rectangular pit house 12.5 m long and 4 m wide, probably with a gabled roof and two hearths inside. It produced perforated-rim pottery, plain pottery, polished stone daggers and spindle whorls, a rare glimpse of everyday life among the dolmen builders.

Tripto tips

• Access: the dolmens sit along a woodland walking area (the Gyoha-dong Dolmen Forest) with no admission charge. The address is around 172 Dangha 2-gil, Paju.
• Time needed: 40 minutes to an hour to walk the pine woods and see the dolmens one by one.
• Best time: in late autumn and winter, with the leaves down, the woods are bright and the stones easy to make out. In summer the deep shade makes for a cool forest walk.
• Getting there: the site is about 3.4 km north-west of Unjeong Station (Gyeongui–Jungang Line) as the crow flies, so a taxi or bus from the station is easiest. The hills near Gyoha Middle School in Dongpae-dong are a useful landmark.
• What to bring: it is a low hill, but the paths are earth and partly sloping, so wear trainers. Look at the dolmens from outside the fences and do not climb on them.