How was dolmen constructed? Table-type dolmen was built by placing a capstone over the upright stones on the ground while go-table type dolmen usually required more advanced technique,time and labour to move and lift such a massive capstone.
The selected location should be leveled and prepared. Choosing the location was carried out through negotiating with neighboring groups.
Capstone was prepared by polishing natural gigantic rocks in the nearby mountain or brought out quarried stone blocks from the rock cliff. It required a great expertise
Several ways to carry capstone were used depending on its size and shape. Route appears to have been established to transport a capstone to the tomb.
Log railing might have been one way to move capstone, which requires a great deal of labour . It is postulated that Y-shaped wooden sleds and ice was used to drag capstone.
The ground was dug to place the body of deceased man inside. Polished stone dagger or burnished red pottery wereput into the chamber and sometimes, weapons, ornaments or potteries were buried together with the body as grave goods .
Once the burial chamber was built, upright stones to support the capstone were erected around it and the boundary of grave was demarcated by laying out flat stones. Afterwards the bamboo rail was installed to lift capstones by rolling.
It was the most difficult work in the sequence of dolmen construction, which requires a high civil engineering technique to stay stably with the underlying upright stones. Then soil was mounted up to the top of upright stone to form a slanted mound. Once a capstone was pulled over to the top of the mound,ca and then the soil was removed.
Once the dolmen was built, the rites for the dead or the feast for the laboured people was held. Its evidence was the scattered pottery fragments and pieces of stone tools distributed around the dolmen .
Dolmen building itself was a part of ceremonial event of community group, which required intensive workforce from tribe or adjacent settlement. Because building a dolmen required many people in evert stage of construction such aspreparing burial chamber, making the path for stone transfortation, carrying stone blocks, managing task to be completed and supplying food for workers.
