Megalithic complexes on the Golan

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The megalithic complexes on the Golan encompass more than thirty concentrations of dolmen . The earliest finds come from the early Middle Bronze Age (EBA IV BC according to Albright), approx. 2250–1950 BC. BC This does not rule out that the dolmens were built earlier.

Map of the Golan

description

The archaeologist Claire Epstein meticulously documented the dolmens of the Golan in a fundamental publication in the 1970s. It distinguishes six types of dolmens, some with sub-types, and there are also hybrid structures.

  1. Triliths: small, free-standing structures that consist of two orthostats and a capstone.
  2. Rectangular underground chambers with a narrow entrance on the narrow side. The chambers are formed by 2 to 3 orthostats on the long sides, the back consists of a single stone.
  3. Rectangular underground chambers like No. 2, the entrance is structured by portal stones, the stone roof is supported by protruding stones.
  4. like No. 3, but with rounded corners, narrow sides formed from an orthostat.
  5. Oval to egg-shaped chambers, apse wall made of smaller stones, covered with a large capstone.
  6. Roughly rectangular chamber, greatest width in the middle, entrance on one narrow side, four to six orthostats on the long sides, single stone on one narrow side, several rows of protruding smaller stones support the roof. A low hill covers the locked end.

The chambers of the dolmens are rectangular, trapezoidal or oval. They were built from selected, only partially smoothed slabs of local basalt . They are often paved on the inside and mostly provided with a single capstone, which sometimes towers far beyond the bearing stones. There are gutters and bowls on the capstones . Some chambers were divided into two areas by a vertical plate with a soul hole . In others there are horizontal folds in the walls for inserting a panel, creating two floors.

Most of the dolmens were located under mighty stone mounds. Corridors were often present, but mostly only short. A dolmen in the Deir Saras necropolis has a covered walkway four meters long. The largest of the 15 dolmens uncovered by C. Epstein in 1972 is 10 m long and 1.3 m wide. Most of them are about 1.5 m high. The larger hills of the Golan Heights were sacked early on.

distribution

The dolmens occur both in "dolmen fields" and as individual structures. Epstein interprets the former as tribal cemeteries.

Dolmen at Gamla

The important megalithic areas are:

  • Givat Bazak: East of Gamla 150–200 triliths (type 1)
  • Maale Gamla: On the south side of the Daliyoth Valley. Hilled dolmens.
  • Nahal Bathra / Daliyoth: A special type of small dolmen
  • Rujm el-Hiri : Near Gamla, megalithic structure made of four concentric stone walls. This prehistoric site is also known as the "Stonehenge of the Golan". There are also numerous dolmens.
  • Yehudiya (near Katzrin ): hill north of the old village.

At Gamla there are several hundred small freestanding dolmens on around three square kilometers. There are hardly any traces of former tumuli . The oldest pottery corresponded to that of the early Bronze Age shaft graves west of the Jordan. Some lance tips and daggers made of copper differ significantly from weapons from the systems.

A dolmen in Rasm Ḥarbuš (No. 27), which was built over the remains of a building complex of the Ghassul culture , shows that this must be younger, another (No. 28) contains remains of the house wall. In ʿAin el-Ḥariri two burial mounds lay over the remains of Chalcolithic houses.

About eighty kilometers south of the Golan, the large Ala-Safat dolmen field on the left bank of the Jordan was examined by the Stekelis mosque in 1942–43.

literature

  • Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan . In: Atiqot 17, 1985, pp. 20-58.
  • Sibylle von Reden: The Megalithic Cultures. DuMont, Cologne 1978, 1982, pp. 51-59, ISBN 3-7701-1055-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 20
  2. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 22
  3. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 26, fig. 1a-b (p. 23)
  4. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 26, fig. 1, 2a-c (p. 23)
  5. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 26, fig. 1, 3 (p. 24)
  6. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 26, fig. 1, 4 (p. 24)
  7. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 26, fig. 1, 5 (p. 25)
  8. ^ Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 26, fig. 1, 6 (p. 25)
  9. ^ A b Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan. Atiqot 17, 1985, p. 21
  10. ↑ EB IV BC after Albright or MB I, cf. Claire Epstein: Dolmens excavated in the Golan . Atiqot 17, 1985, note 2
  11. ↑ Sibylle von Reden: The megalithic cultures . DuMont, Cologne 1982, p. 51.

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