Chairman
"The excellent cultural wealth created by our ancestors reflects the outstanding wisdom and talents of our people."
Mt. Ryongak was formed in the Mesozoic era, about 140 million years ago, and is characterized by rugged mountains and abundant rocks.
More than 120 dolmens have been unearthed in the area of Mt. Ryongak.
The dolmens are scattered in Mangyongdae-dong and Samhung-dong in the south, Chilgol-dong in the east, Ryongsan-ri and Wonro-ri in the north, Ryongbong-ri in the west around Mt. Ryongak.
70 out of all the dolmens, more than half of them, were discovered in the area of Mangyongdae-dong and Samhung-dong.
Most of the dolmens in the area of Mt. Ryongak are located in low mountain ridges where mountain ridges spreading from the peak of Mt. Ryongak are connected to the plain.
Mt. Ryongak is the one composed of tuff from volcanic eruption, so it has a lot of rocks that have several layers.
The dolmens are all located in a favorable place for quarrying, and there are several holes in the large rocky mountain near Samhung-dong area which can be seen as a place that was dug to take off the capstone of the dolmens.
Samhung dolmens No. 1 and No. 2 are located on the ridges of Mt. Si spreading to the south from the main peak of Mt. Ryongak.
The Samhung dolmen No. 1 has a chamber that was made with 2~3cm thick blue and grey slate. It is 165cm long, 60cm wide and 67cm high.
Outside walls of the chamber are reinforced with rubble stones piled up and then covered with a capstone.
The capstone was made of oval-shaped tuff abundant in Mt. Ryongak which is 245cm long, 175cm wide and 40cm thick.
The block stone of the tomb chamber on the south side is a slotted stone in the slab of both walls, and a small stone is inserted to prevent the block from entering the chamber, and the one on the east side was sealed off after the corpse was inserted.
The floor was covered with 2cm thick hard-solidified grey-brown earth and under it is the earth mixed with crumbly stones.
On the floor was unearthed a stone dagger with a 30cm long fuller made of grey-brown slate.
Samhung dolmen No. 2 is also a type of tomb in which the chamber was made into a box with thin blue-gray slate, reinforced by a pile of rubble around it, and covered with capstone on it. It had already been badly damaged, leaving only some slate fragments in the wall.
The floor is covered with flat pebbles and the chamber of the tomb is 140cm long, 60cm wide and 40cm high.
The outside of the chamber was reinforced with rubble.
The capstone was made of an oval-shaped tuff which is like a large rock and it is 250cm long, 170cm wide and 60cm thick.
Seven root arrows made of red slate were discovered in this tomb.
Both Samhung dolmens No. 1 and No. 2 are Chimchon-type and are exposed to the east.
Unearthing the Chimchon-type dolmens in the area of Mt. Ryongak, the main area of Pyongyang, is of great significance in clarifying that Pyongyang was the capital and centre of Kojoson.
