Dolmens with finds of bronze objects from the Jeongnyang-dong site in Jeollanam-Do province (Republic of Korea)

This article discusses bronze objects which were found at the Jeongnyang-dong site located in the city of Yeochon in Jeollanam-do Province in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula and demonstrates the connection between the Bronze culture and Megalithic culture in South Korea using specific examples. Finds of bronze objects in the megalithic complexes of Korea are not numerous. The work proves that the Jeongnyang-dong site stands out among other megalithic objects by the largest number of bronze objects (8 items) discovered there in seven out of 29 studied objects stone cists with walls made of irregular stones, floor paved with pebbles, and upper part covered with stone slabs. In one case, there was a structure of the southern-type dolmen with massive stone lid and several low supporting stones over the stone cist. The rest of the objects at this site may also be similar dolmens, but they had been destroyed by the time of research, although in some cases it was possible to discover the stones which supported the cover stone over the stone cist. The discovered bronze items included seven lute-shaped daggers and a lute-shaped spearhead. Most of similar items come from Jeollanam-do Province the largest center of megalithic culture in South Korea. It has been shown that bronze luteshaped daggers from the dolmens of Southwest Korea differed from similarfinds from Manchuria and North Korea in some details of their morphology, which may indicate a local production center for lute-shaped daggers in South Korea.