Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 50 (3) 2022   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2022.50.3.039-048

Annotation:  Aktas—an “Ephemeral” Upper Paleolithic Site in North Kazakhstan Neolithic Burials in the Zelinda River Mouth, Northern Angara: Burial Practices and Radiocarbon Chro Classic Samarra Painted Pottery from Yarim Tepe I, the Neolithic of Northern Iraq The Megalithic Tradition of East and Southeast Asia The Beginning of Iron Metallurgy in East Asia Tools Used in Tagar Rock Art: Findings of an Experimental Traceological Study Grave Goods of an Elite Saka Burial at Kyrykoba in the Context of Cultural Ties Between the Nomads o On Phoinix (Φοίνιξ) and Its Distinguishing Marks: A Karian “Type Site” Medieval Burials at Ryabchikov Klyuch-1, the Kansk-Rybinsk Basin Chinese Coins from the Early Medieval Cemetery Gorny-10, Northern Altai The State of Preservation of the Shakhty Rock Art Site and the Prospects of Its Conservation South Russian Settlers of Western Siberia in the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries, Based on Archiva A Case of Chronic Maxillary Sinusitis in a Late Neanderthal Population of the Altai Mountains Analysis of 3D-Models of Artifi cially Deformed Crania, Using Geometric Morphometry Dental Data on the Origin of the Early Iron Age Bolshaya Rechka Population in the Upper Ob Area, and   

The Megalithic Tradition of East and Southeast Asia

A.L. Nesterkina¹, A.A. Portnova², A.A. Fedorova¹, and L. Yondri³

¹Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

²Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

³West Java Archaeological Research Office, Jl. Raya Tagog Cinunuk No.KM. 17, Cimekar, Kec. Cileunyi, Kabupaten Bandung, Jawa Barat, 40623, Indonesia

We review the scholarship relating to the megalithic tradition of East and Southeast Asia and the results of its archaeological study. The major center of this tradition in East Asia is Korea, where it reveals considerable heterogeneity. In the Bronze Age, it is represented by dolmens and menhirs, and in the later periods by stone tombs, chambers, and pyramidal mounds. The latest megaliths are anthropomorphic statues of the Dolhareubang type, on Jeju Island off the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. Southeast Asian megaliths, which are described in detail, originate from similar structures in East and South Asia while being less known and less accurately dated, and revealing specific features of construction. Owing to the ethnographic sources on local peoples, Southeast Asian megaliths provide valuable data on their layout, function, and associated mythology. We demonstrate common features in megalithic traditions of East and Southeast Asia and their specificity in each region. Principal sources are described, and major trends in the study of megaliths in those territories are outlined. In sum, megaliths of East and Southeast Asia are an independent archaeological phenomenon requiring future studies.

Keywords: East Asia, Southeast Asia, Korean Peninsula, megaliths, megalithic culture, chronology, burial practice